LEESBURG, Fla. (3/14/23) - The Franklin Pierce softball team ended things on a high note on day four of the Spring Games in Leesburg, Florida, bouncing back from an afternoon openening loss to Missouri-St. Louis, 5-2 with a 10-2 mercy-rule victory over Bloomfield University. 

With the split, Pierce softball moves to 13-6 overall this season. Missouri-St. Louis improves to 13-10 with the win, while Bloomfield drops to 2-16 with the setback.

GAME #1: v. Missouri-St. Louis

In the early goings of the first inning, sophomore Bella Williams (Phoenix, Ariz.) promptly put Pierce in the lead, 2-0 after crushing her second home run in as many days, which was a solo shot to right field. Over the course of the first two innings, the Raven defense would keep the Tritons off the board to maintain their one run advantage, but would run into some troubles in the bottom of the third.

With two outs, the Tritons jumped ahead on a two-RBI single into center field by Corinne Daly, who then stole second in the next sequence. From there, another shot into center, a double by Irene Travis, brought the score to 3-1 in favor of Missouri, scoring the runner at first. The same duo would then add two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, with Daly reaching on an infield single, only to then be brought home on a follow-up two-run homer to deep right center by Travis. Pierce now trailed the Tritons by a 5-1 margin.

To lead off the top of the sixth inning, junior infielder Haley Bigwood (Athol, Mass.) went yard with a solo home run to center field, but to little avail as the final two innings would produce only one run for Pierce. As a result, the Tritons would emerge victorious, 5-2.

Junior Sabrina Gonzalez (Chandler, Ariz.) took the loss in her fifth start of the season for the Ravens, pitching the entire way through with five runs allowed in nine opponent hits. Gonzalez also walked three batters, and struck out one.

GAME #2: v. Bloomfield

The Ravens took the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. After singling to left field, a wild pitch and a steal helped bring sophomore Bella Williams to third with only one out. Then, another single to the left side by junior Ashley Cangiano (North Attleboro, Mass.) brought her home for the games' first run.

After a quiet second inning, the Ravens would return with another run in the bottom of the third. Following a lead-off walk to freshman Amy Jones (San Diego, Calif.), Williams kept the bat swinging with a triple to left field, scoring Jones in the process to give Pierce a 2-0 edge. The Ravens would then go down with a quick three outs to end the third, before entering what would be a pivotal fourth inning.

Bloomfield managed to get on the board in the top half on a RBI double from Jocelyn Moody, but would face an onslaught of runs by the Ravens in the bottom half. To lead off, freshman Hannah Wodecki (Southampton, Mass.) reached on a single to left-center, and was then pushed to second on a walk to sophomore Lita Vorseth (Mesa, Ariz.). With one out, Amy Jones turned two on a single to right field, scoring both runners with her first collegiate RBI, extending the lead to 4-1 Ravens. Bella Williams was then walked to put Jones in scoring position, before senior Melissa Konopinski (Butler, N.J) singled up the middle to bring home the lead runner. Both Konopinski and Williams would advance another base on a wild pitch before another walk would hand Cangiano a free pass to first, loading the bases. Haley Bigwood then reach on an infield single to the Bloomfield shortstop, drawing the attention away from home plate with Williams scoring from third. All the way back to her spot in the order, Hannah Wodecki would challenge the Bloomfield shortstop once more and reach on a throwing error, scoring Konopinski for the fifth run of the inning.

The same situation would arise in the sixth inning, with the Bears claiming a solo run in the top half on an RBI single by Jocelyn Moody, her second of the day. However, the Ravens were waiting on the other end with another three runs in the bottom half, beginning with an RBI double to left by Ashley Cangiano. Down the stretch, with the bases loaded, Lita Vorseth would take advantage of another Bears' fielding error, scoring baserunners Cangiano and Molly Magnette (Ayer, Mass.) to finalize the score at 10-2. With the mercy-rule in effect, the Ravens took the overall victory through six innings of play.

Freshman Savannah Arreguin (Pacoima, Calif.), fresh off her first collegiate win on Sunday, added another one to her repertoire with a full six-inning effort, allowing two runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout to move to 2-2 on the season. In the win, six-of-nine Raven batters recorded a hit, with seven recording at least one RBI.

Softball will face Bloomfield once more to close out the Florida trip on Tuesday, March 14^th, but will first clash with the University of Illinois-Springfield at 3:45 p.m.