Softball Splits Day Two of Competition at Battle at the Beach

Saturday, March 18

Fort Myers, Fla.

10:00 a.m.

Drexel University

3-6

Canisius

11-12

Canisius

Drexel

Photo by: Ryan Samson

Softball Splits Day Two of Competition at Battle at the Beach

3/18/2017 4:24:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Drexel softball team split day two at the Battle at the Beach with a 3-2 win against Cleveland State and a 2-1 loss to Canisius.

The first game of the day remained scoreless into the fourth inning. The Dragons were the first to strike as Vanessa Lightfoot led off with a single to left field and then Linda Rush followed with an RBI double to right center that brought Lightfoot around the bases to score. This gave Drexel an early 1-0 advantage.

Canisius retaliated right away in the top of the fifth, scoring two runs off of three hits. The Dragons tried for a rally a half inning later, loading the bases for Rush with one out but a sacrifice fly turned into two outs after an appeal ruled that the runner left early from third. The inning ended with the Dragons still trailing the Golden Griffins, 2-1.

The Dragons made another attempt to rally in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not enough as Canisius was able to hold Drexel off and walk away with a 2-1 victory.

The Dragons outhit the Golden Griffins, 7-6 in the losing effort. Canisius's Lauren Castro picked up her second win of the season, while Devon Grippe was credited with the loss for Drexel.

In game two, the Dragons jumped out to an early lead again after Rush scored Taylor Kent from third with an RBI single in the first inning with no outs. Two batters later, Hannah Walker added another run with an infield single that scored Lightfoot and gave Drexel a 2-0 lead.

The Vikings got one run back in the bottom half of the first inning, scoring as Riley Ries single down the left field line to score Mel Woodard from second with two outs. Tara Konopka was able to strike out the next batter to limit the damage and maintain a 2-1 Drexel advantage.

In the second inning, Drexel tacked on another run as Lightfoot grounded out to shortstop to move the runners and bring Jenelle Ladrido home from third.

In the bottom of the third, the Vikings put another run on the board to cut Drexel's lead to 3-2 as Mackenzie Joecken singled up the middle to drive in Woodard. However, Konopka was able to force a pop up and a ground out from the next two batters to get out of the inning and maintain the advantage.

The Drexel defense shut down any attempts Cleveland State made to come back over the course of the remaining four innings and went on to earn their fourth win of the season with a 3-2 victory over the Vikings.

The Dragons outhit the Vikings, 8-7. Konopka earned her third win of the season, while Cleveland State's Joecken was credited with the loss.

Drexel moves to 4-6 on the season, while Canisius moves to 11-12 and Cleveland State moves to 2-23.

The Dragons will close out competition at the Battle at the Beach on Sunday morning when they will face the hosting Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at 10 a.m.