CLERMONT, Fla. – The Plattsburgh State softball team fell twice on Monday at THE Spring Games, dropping a 10-7 decision to Calvin College before sustaining an 8-0 loss in five innings at the hands of Tufts University.
Plattsburgh State drops to 3-3 overall with the losses and next faces Bethel University (9:30 a.m.) and the University of Southern Maine (11:45 a.m.) on Wednesday, March 20. Calvin and Tufts each move to 5-0 overall with the wins.
Calvin 10, Plattsburgh State 7
Calvin jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first two innings, and despite a five-run fifth by Plattsburgh State, the Knights were able to hold on for the win.
Sophomore designated player Grace Stock, senior third baseman Maddie DeGroot, junior catcher Grace Quiggle and junior center fielder Kayla Groen all came up with RBI base hits for Calvin in the first before junior second baseman Hannah Horvath, freshman right fielder Hannah Biddlecome, Stock and Quiggle each posted RBI in the second.
Two swings of the bat made it an 8-5 game in the fourth, as junior right fielder
Frannie Merkel (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) drove in two runs with a double down the right-field line before sophomore third baseman
Bella Spadinger (Loudonville, N.Y./Shaker) blasted a three-run home run. Calvin extended its lead with an RBI triple by Quiggle in the fourth before junior designated player
Haleigh Agans (Brasher Falls, N.Y./St. Lawrence Central) and Merkel each had RBI base hits in the fifth to pull the Cardinals within two runs at 9-7. Junior first baseman Abi Colon added insurance for the Knights with a solo home run in the sixth.
Merkel went 2-for-4 at the plate, recording three RBI and a run scored, while Quiggle paced the Calvin bats by going 4-for-4 with three RBI, two triples and a double.
Freshman pitcher
Hannah Fuerst (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca East) sustained the loss in the circle for the Cardinals in 1 1/3 innings of work, while freshman pitcher
Elliana Bowlen (Keeseville, N.Y./AuSable Valley) yielded two runs on six hits with a strikeout in 4 2/3 frames of action. Sophomore pitcher Bri Leegwater earned the win for the Knights despite permitting seven runs on seven hits, while sophomore pitcher Ellie Borst earned the save in yielding just one hit while striking out three in the final three innings of the game.
Tufts 8, Plattsburgh State 0 (5 inn.)
Tufts rapped out 11 hits and scored eight runs to down the Cardinals, 8-0, in five innings in the nightcap.
Plattsburgh State kept Tufts to a 2-0 lead through three innings of play, but the Jumbos erupted for four runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to enact the run rule.
Fuerst and Merkel each recorded a hit for the Cardinals, while sophomore second baseman Emma Della Volpe, sophomore shortstop Mia Steinberg, sophomore catcher Sofia Molina and junior center fielder Maggie Lebinski all had multiple hits for the Jumbos.
Bowlen allowed two runs on four hits in two innings of work in the losing decision for Plattsburgh State, while Tufts' sophomore pitcher Kristi Van Meter went the distance in the shutout win. Van Meter allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out seven.
