Tournaments of troubles for the Broncs
By Lindsay Scarola
Rider softball participated in Kennesaw State’s tournament for the weekend starting Feb. 28, where it went 1-4 throughout five games. The Broncs lost their first game on Feb. 28 against St. John’s University, 8-0, in five innings. At night, they beat Kennesaw State University, 2-1, in eight innings.
On March 1, the team lost to St. Louis University, 13-1, in five innings. The next day they lost to St. Louis again. This time it was, 5-4, in eight innings. In another rematch against Kennesaw State, Rider could not pull through and lost 3-2 in five.
Opening tournament split
In the first game for the day, Rider went up against St John’s University. Rider’s offensive was quiet. St. John’s junior pitcher pitched a five inning no-hitter.
Rider struck out 12 times and Francia was on the lookout for a perfect game. An error in the fourth inning ruined the chance of a perfect game.
Rider pitching combined gave up five walks and 10 hits. The Red Storm scored twice in the first and once in the second. They scored two more in the fourth and activated the mercy rule in the fifth by adding three more runs. Rider got shutout by St. John’s 8-0.
The Broncs turned things around in the next game against Kennesaw State. Junior pitcher Fallyn Stoeckel had a one-out single to get on base. She moved to second off of a single by senior third baseman Olivia Burroughs. An error by Kennesaw allowed Stoeckel to score.
Rider was up 1-0 until it was the bottom of the seventh with two outs. The Owls had a two-out single to get a runner on. The Owls’ catcher had the game-tying RBI sending this game into extras.
In extras, teams started the inning with a runner on second, Rider had freshman outfielder Cami Johnson pinch run for Stoeckel.
Burroughs was hit by a pitch, with no outs the Broncs made a double steal to make it runners on second and third. Sophomore catcher Kendall Reda-Fehsal delivered a sacrifice fly to score Johnson for the 2-1 lead. The Owls’ attempt for a walkoff in the bottom of the eighth failed, the Broncs won 2-1.
Weekend matches
The game against St. Louis University did not start how Rider wanted it to. Immediately, St. Louis went up 3-0 after an RBI single and a two-run home run.
The Billikens added five more runs between the second and third innings, now having an 8-0 lead. Sophomore catcher Abby Cruz scored the only run of the game after having a solo shot in the bottom of the third.
St. Louis was hungry for more, scoring four more runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to mercy rule Rider, 13-1.
The following day, freshman outfielder Keegan St. Cyr led off with a bunt against St. Louis and took second on a sacrifice bunt.
An error allowed St. Cyr to score and for the inning to keep going. Reda-Fehsal added two more after hitting a two-run blast.
The Billikens got two back in the bottom of the first and tied the game, 3-3, with a two-out RBI double in the second. A double steal by St. Louis made it 4-3 in the third but Rider tied it back up in the fifth.
Bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh, the Broncs needed two easy outs to occur. They got their easy outs as senior catcher Kathryn Schmierer caught two pop ups to send the game into extras.
Rider had runners on second and third with one out in the eighth, they could not get the job done. St. Louis was looking for the walk off.
On a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single, the Billikens walked it off 5-4 against the Broncs. Next up was the game against Kennesaw State, St. Cyr started things off for Rider again. She got on base by a hit-by-pitch and stole second.
With two outs junior outfielder Maddie Luedtke hit an RBI double and Reda-Fehsal followed with an RBI single to give their team an early lead 2-0.
A solo homer, a fielder’s choice that led to an RBI, and a two-out RBI double gave the Owls a 3-2 lead after three innings.
The Broncs had runners on first and second, a groundout by Luedtke moved the runners up to second and third.
Rider hit a groundout and a pop up ending this inning. Due to the fact, the Broncs had to make their flight so this game was cut short to only five innings. A 3-2 loss in five for the Broncs.
“We need to keep working to focus on not allowing the pressure of the close games and situations overwhelm us and continue to play for each other and have the confidence that we can not only stay in the close games, but take the win,” said head coach Davon Ortega.
Split Series in Connecticut
Graduate pitcher Anna-Marie Groskritz stepped on the mound for Rider in game one, pitching a gem by only giving up three hits and one earned run against Central Connecticut State.
Luedtke started off the rally for Rider with a single in the top of the second. Reda-Fehsal walked to put runners on first and second.
On a double steal, the Blue Devils committed an error allowing Luedtke to score and Reda-Fehsal to advance to third. That was the only damage done in the second inning.
Freshman infielder Emma Morgan had a single in the top of the sixth. A groundout advanced Morgan to second and sophomore infielder Kiersten Buchanan had a single.
Morgan scored on an error made by the shortstop to make it 2-1. Groskritz gave up a homer in the top of the seventh, the only run the Blue Devils scored in the game.
Central Connecticut got its bats going in the second game, starting the top of the second with an RBI single.
The Broncs got their bats going in the top of the third with an RBI single from Stoeckel. In the top of the fourth, Morgan had an RBI double and Reda-Fehsal had an RBI double in the fifth.
Down 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth, a wild pitch allowed the Blue Devils to score to make it a one-run game.
Rider went on to score once more in the top of the sixth, however, the Broncs were unable to stop Central Connecticut from scoring twice to take the lead 5-4, allowing the Blue Devils to ultimately win the game.
The Broncs will travel to Statesboro, Georgia, for the Hail Southern Classic against the University of Maryland and Georgia Southern University from March 7 to March 9.
