MELBOURNE, Fla. - Saint Mary's College Softball split their final two games at The Space Coast Spring Games on Saturday, defeating Rutgers University-Newark, 9-1, and falling to St. Norbert College, 12-5. The Belles move to 6-10 after their trip to Florida.
Saint Mary's vs Rutgers-Newark
After shutting down the Newark offense in the top of the first, the Saint Mary's offense got their day going quickly. After a one-out single from junior Allie Moss (Goshen, IN), she proceeded to steal second and third base to put herself in a strong scoring position. Sophomore Gia Schiavone (Poland, OH) drew a walk and advanced to second before freshman Isabelle Hochmuth (St. Louis, MO) grounded out to bring Moss in to score and advance Schiavone. Freshman Maggie Voliva (Saint John, IN) followed that up with a walk of her own before advancing to second. Senior Sam Mikitka (Naperville, IL) then singled to left field to bring both Schiavone and Voliva in to score to give the Belles an early 3-0 lead.
After a quiet second inning, the Saint Mary' offense got right back to work. Hochmuh led off the inning with a double before advancing to third on a passed ball. Voliva walked for the second time in the game before both runners advanced on a wild pitch, bringing Hochmuth in to score. After Voliva advanced to third on a ground out, sophomore Hunter St. Peter (Traverse City, MI) singled to extend the Belles lead, 5-0 after three innings.
The Scarlet Raiders scored their lone run on the game in the top of the fourth on a throwing error. The Belles offense would bounce right back with a leadoff single from sophomore Talia Jorgensen (St. Paul, MN) who would steal second early in the next at-bat. Moss then reached on an error by the Newark pitcher, allowing Jorgensen to come in to score. Schiavone followed that up reaching on a fielder's choice that saw both runners safe at their respective bases. Moss and Schiavone promptly stole second and third shortly after. Hochmuth then hit a sacrifice fly into right field, bringing Moss in to score and advancing Schiavone to third. Schiavone then scored on a wild pitch early in the next at-bat. Voliva then reached on an error, followed by a Mikitka single and a walk from sophomore Arianna Vazquez (Carol Stream, IL) to load the bases. St. Peter then reached on a fielder's choice which saw all base runners advance and Voliva come in to score to extend the Belles lead to 9-1.
Mikitka continued her strong day in the circle, shutting the Scarlet Raiders down 1, 2, 3 in the top of the fifth to secure the third straight run-rule victory for Saint Mary's.
Jorgensen and Mikitka led the team with two hits each on the day while four other Belles tallied a hit. Hochmuth, Mikitka, and St. Peter grabbed all of the RBIs for Saint Mary's on the day, tallying two each. Voliva came in to score three times on the day while both Moss and Schiavone scored twice. Voliva also tallied two walks for the team. The Belles swiped six bases as a team, Moss snagged three to lead them while Jorgensen nabbed two and Schiavone grabbed one as well.
In the circle, it was a third straight one-run complete game for the Belles as Mikitka threw all five innings in the win. She allowed just one unearned run on just two hits on the day and struck out three batters.
Saint Mary's vs St. Norbert
While both teams saw their leadoff batters reach in the first inning, nothing came of it in a quiet first. Saint Mary's kicked off the second inning with a bang as Hochmuth tripled to center field on a full count to put a runner in scoring position with no outs. Just a couple pitches into the next at-bat, Hochmuth came in to score off a wild pitch to give the Belles an early 1-0 lead. The Belles defense shut down St. Norbert in the second before a wild third inning.
Sophomore Lydia Hinga (Portage, MI) led off the inning with a single before Moss grounded into a fielder's choice. Freshman Ella Kucala (Monee, IL) then reached on a bunt single which saw Moss advance to third on a throwing error. Early in the next at-bat, Kucala stole second to draw the throw, allowing Moss to take home and extend the lead. Freshman Maggie Voliva (Saint John, IN) took one for the team with a hit by pitch to put a second runner on. With two runners on, Hochmuth doubled to left field to bring both of them around on her second extra base hit of the day, putting Saint Mary's ahead, 4-0. The Green Knights would explode in the bottom of the third inning for eight total runs on six hits to take their first lead, 8-4.
St. Norbert would tack on four more runs in the fourth inning off of four hits and an error to extend their lead to 12-4. Sophomore Talia Jorgensen (St. Paul, MN) led off the fifth inning with a pinch hit single before advancing to second on a passed ball and to third on a fly out. With Jorgensen on third, Hochmuth would single through the left side for her third hit of the game to bring her in to score. That would conclude the scoring for both teams throughout the final two innings, Hochmuth came to the plate with two outs in the seventh with a chance to homer for a cycle, but wasn't able to connect and saw the Green Knights take the win, 12-5.
Hochmuth led the team going 3-4 on the game while coming up a home run shy of a cycle. St. Peter and Hinga added two hits each. Hochmuth tallied all three RBIs for the Belles on the day while five different Belles scored all five runs. Moss and Kucala both snagged a stolen base each.
In the circle, sophomore Ashlyn Yeo (Jackson, MI) was the pitcher of record, throwing two and a third inning, allowing seven runs on eight hits. Junior Sammy Schrader (Romeoville, IL) followed Yeo with one and a third inning, allowing four earned runs on four hits with a strikeout. Mikitka finished off the game for the Belles, throwing the final two and a third inning and allowed just three hits.
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's returns home for four straight series starting with the home opener on March 19 as they host Aurora University. The Belle then host Goshen College on March 22 before hosting Anderson University on March 26. Saint Mary's kicks off MIAA play on April 4 as they host Kalamazoo College in the conference opener.
