MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The University of the Incarnate Word softball split on day one of the Madeira Beach Classic, hosted by Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals defeated Villanova in the opener, 5-3, before dropping a 3-2 decision to Northern Kentucky in eight innings.
GAME 1
A pair of Villanova (2-4) home runs put the Wildcats ahead 2-0 after one inning. The Cardinals regrouped and scored five unanswered to take a 5-2 lead.
Delaney Guzman put the Cardinals on the board with a solo shot to left in the bottom of the second, then
Breana Nevarez hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the third to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
UIW showed patience at the plate in the bottom of the sixth.
Shelby Neatherlin drew a bases-loaded walk to plate another run. Two batters later,
Emily Castro was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to allow another Cardinal to score.
Villanova led off the top of the seventh and final inning with a home run, but
Sarah Leal got three consecutive fly outs to end the game.
Leal earned the complete-game win, as she allowed six hits and three earned runs while walking one and tying her career high of six strikeouts.
Victoria Bratcher and
Marcela Lopez each had two hits to lead the Cardinal offense.
Anissa Amarillas led Villanova at the plate, as she had two hits, including a home run. Caitlyn Dickman took the loss in the circle, as she gave up five hits and three earned runs in 2.1 innings.
GAME 2
UIW (1-5) drew first blood, as
Breanna Hernandez's grounder allowed Guzman to score to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead over Northern Kentucky (3-2).
The Norse tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, as Zahrya McFarland started the inning reaching on an error, then scoring from third on another Cardinal error.
The game went into extras. Using international tiebreaker rules,
Teanna Lucio was placed on second to start the top of the eighth. She advanced on a groundout, then scored on a Norse error to give UIW a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom half of the frame, NKU immediately sacrificed the runner on second over to third. It looked as though UIW would get out of the jam, as
Jessica Rodriguez got a groundout and a strikeout, but Madi Mulder singled through the left side to allow the tying and winning runs to score to end the game.
Shelby Neatherlin went 2-for-3 with a walk to lead the Cardinals. Rodriguez suffered the loss in the circle, as she allowed five hits, three runs (one earned) and three walks while striking out three in 7.2 innings.
Mulder and Toree Stalter each had two hits to lead NKU. Faith Howard took the win, as she gave up four hits and one earned run with a walk and two strikeouts in 5.0 innings.
UP NEXT
UIW resumes play against Buffalo at 12:30 p.m. CT and Alabama State at 3 p.m. CT.
STAY TUNED
The Cardinals close the classic against Eastern Michigan Sunday at 11:30 a.m. CT.
