The softball team competed in the Tiger Invitational at Clemson University this past weekend. The Leopards dropped all four games, remaining winless this season.
Because of the mercy rule, the Leopards (0-12 overall) failed to hit the full seven-inning regulation in each tournament game.
The Maroon and White took on Indiana University (12-5 overall) in the first game last Friday morning. The Hoosiers pushed eight runs across the plate in the second inning and never hit the brakes, adding six more in each of the next two innings. Indiana made it 22-0 in the fifth inning, which proved to be the final score after the Leopards were kept scoreless in the bottom of the frame.
Freshman outfielder Emma Ahlborn said that the team needs to have “more timely hits” going forward.
“We’re having good things, but then they’re spread apart,” Ahlborn said. “I think just streaming it all together at the right moment.”
Looking to put the shutout behind them, the Leopards returned to the diamond that afternoon to face off against the hosts. Ahlborn belted a first-inning triple to score senior outfielder Mary Grace O’Neill and was brought home by freshman infielder Caroline Hall, giving the Leopards an early 2-0 lead.
The Tigers (16-6 overall) responded in the bottom of the frame, matching the Leopards’ two runs on only three hits. An explosive second inning saw Clemson put up six runs, grabbing an 8-2 lead.
Sophomore infielder Katie Harrington swiped an infield single in the top of the third to score O’Neill, but the Tigers responded with a run of their own in the bottom half to bring the lead back to six. They added two more runs in the game to take an 11-3 lead and force the sixth-inning mercy.
Game two proved to be the Leopards’ best game offensively, as they strung together 11 total hits. Harrington, Hall, Ahlborn and junior infielder Kylee Sweet each went 2-4 at the plate.
“I think that our hitting has been consistent,” Ahlborn said. “We’ve been playing some really good teams, and that’s all to prepare us for conference. Putting up 11 hits against Clemson isn’t anything to overlook.”
The Leopards played their last two games against East Carolina University. O’Neill managed the Maroon and White’s sole hit against the Pirates (12-7 overall) in Saturday’s game as the team was shut out for the second time in three games. The Pirates gathered eight runs in the first four innings en route to an 8-0 victory.
The two squads ran it back on Sunday. Freshman pitcher Sophia Alvarez-Backus struggled on the mound, surrendering 10 runs on 12 hits in 2.2 innings.
The Leopards avoided the shutout in the third inning as O’Neill and Ahlborn notched RBI singles to put two runs on the board. This would hold up as their only offensive action in the game, with East Carolina adding an insurance run in the fourth to force another fifth-inning mercy and winning 11-2.
“Last weekend was just a cool opportunity,” Ahlborn said. “I think that we took that mostly away from it, not so much the results of the games, but the experience.”
The team will compete in the Penn State Invitational this weekend, taking on Canisius University (3-7 overall), Penn State (8-11 overall) and Fairfield University (2-8 overall).
