BOX SCORE
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The University of Hartford softball team concluded the USF Spring Break Tournament with a 3-2 triumph on Sunday against Colgate. The Hawks, who finished 2-3 on the weekend, improve to 4-9 on the season and will return to action on Tuesday with a single game against Northwestern in Clearwater.
Senior Siera Sheehan threw for seven innings, finishing her fifth complete game of the season by scattering just six hits while allowing two earned runs to claim her fourth victory of the season. She also struck out two Raiders en route to the win.
Colgate (4-13) drew blood first in the outing, using three hits to take the early lead in the bottom of the first. After leading off the frame with a single and stealing second, Alana Dyson moved to third on a base hit by Tera Vaughn and crossed home plate on the same play, capitalizing on a Hartford miscue in the outfield. With two outs in the frame, Stephanie Hartquist gave Colgate the 2-0 advantage after bringing home Vaughn on a single.
The Hawks answered back in the top of the second on a single by Chelsey Mooney that plated rookie Peyton Fisher from second base. Fisher capitalized on an error with two outs in her at-bat when she reached on a bad throw by Colgate's third baseman and then advanced to second base on an illegal pitch.
In the top of the third, Hartford knotted up the score at 2-2 by using a pair of hits to push the game-tying run across the plate. Erica Phelps, who finished 2-for-3 in the outing, led off the frame with a single and with one out, moved to second base on another illegal pitch by Colgate. The senior then advanced 60 more feet on an infield single by rookie Devynne Butler and would cash in on a miscue by the Raiders by crossing home plate on a wild pitch.
Hartford notched the go-ahead and game-winning run in the top of the sixth inning with two outs recorded in the frame. Mooney connected for her second hit of the afternoon and freshman Margaret Betz, who pinch ran for the Hawks' first baseman, gave Hartford the lead after moving to second on a wild pitch and scoring on an infield error by the Raiders' shortstop in Phelps' at-bat.
Sheehan retired the first two batters she faced in Colgate's final at-bats, and after allowing a single to right center field by Eileen Omousky, she forced Dyson into a fly out to end the game.
