MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.— With its second tournament of the season being canceled due to poor field conditions at Delaware, the University of Hartford softball team picked up five games in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where it faced Rider three times and took on Manhattan twice. Highlighting the weekend is the squad's first win of the season, which came on Saturday evening in its second game against Rider, 7-3. The Hawks closed out the weekend with a 1-4 mark. Shortstop Jamie Soles finished the tournament with a .412 batting average on seven hits while junior catcher Sawyer Fried added power to the batting lineup with seven RBI on two home runs, including a grand slam.
Game 1 | vs. Rider | L, 3-9
The Hawks competed against Rider in the opening game of the Myrtle Beach Tournament. After three scoreless innings, Hartford was the first to put up a run with an RBI on a base hit by freshman third baseman Danielle DeMarco in the fourth inning. Rider responded with a four-run fifth inning, though, and continued with a two-run sixth inning to go up, 6-1. Three more runs would be added to that total to put the Hawks down by a 9-1 count heading into their final at-bats. Down by eight, Hartford rallied, taking advantage of Rider errors to score two runs but came up short falling to the Broncs, 9-3.
Game 2 | vs. Manhattan | L, 2-6
Hartford fell to Manhattan, 6-2, in the two teams' first meeting of the weekend. Manhattan got on the board first with two runs in the first inning. Both teams were unable to put runs across after that first inning until the Jaspers broke open the seventh inning with four runs on four hits. The Hawks responded with two homeruns in the bottom half of the seventh, first from senior Ana Alberti and again from sophomore Marisa Ferguson, but were limited to those two runs by the Jaspers' defense, resulting in their second loss of the day.
Game 3 | Rider | W, 7-3
Hartford earned its first win of the 2015 season with a 7-3 victory over Rider. The Hawks jumped on the board first with a five-run third inning and held the lead throughout the remainder of the game. Junior catcher Sawyer Fried led the Hawks with a grand slam in the third inning for the first runs of the game. Later in the inning, senior Jackie Kelly recorded a sacrifice fly for her first RBI of the game. She went on to add a single in the fifth inning to score Danielle DeMarco for her second RBI. In the seventh inning, DeMarco, who finished the game 3-of-4, knocked her first long ball out of the park to give the Hawks their seventh and final run of the afternoon. Freshman Pitcher Kelsey Bird got the win during her first start of the weekend, leading the Hawks through seven full innings, allowing just two earned runs and one walk.
Game 4 | Rider | L, 6-7
Hartford scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning, but fell to Rider in a close 7-6 game for their the meeting of the weekend between the Hawks and Broncs. The Hawks finished the seventh inning regulation, 4-4, forcing extra inning tie-breaker. In the top of the eighth, Ferguson doubled to plate freshman Elizabeth Newkirk and give the Hawks the edge at 5-4. But Rider, the home team, responded in its at-bats as senior Amanda Irving homered to tie the score 5-5. In the top of the ninth, Hartford again pushed the go-ahead run across the plate as Jackie Kelly tripled to drive in senior Jenice Aloyo to make it a 7-6 Hawks' lead before Rider responded again in the home half of the frame. Senior Gina McCool recorded a walk-off double that scored Broncs' junior Dana Sensi and freshman Monica Clark, who led off the frame with a double and a walk, respectively. Freshman pitcher Bianca Ross threw a strong 8.2 innings for the Hawks, facing 43 batters, allowing only three walks while depending on her defense as she forced 11 flyouts and 14 groundouts throughout the game.
Game 5 | Manhattan | L, 8-15
The Hawks dropped their last game of the weekend in six innings, 15-8, to the Manhattan Jaspers. The Hawks were led by freshman Jamie Soles who recorded three RBI on a 3-of-4 effort at the plate. Junior Sawyer Fried finished the game with three RBI, all of which came from her second inning homerun over the left field fence. The Jaspers scored in just three innings with a four run first inning, five run third inning and five run sixth inning.
Hartford will continue the season with a mid week double header at CCSU on Tuesday March 10 followed by a trip to Clearwater, Fla. on Friday March 13 for a five game USF Under Armour Invitational.
