FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Mount Mary University softball team (2-10) lost both games today at their finale of the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic Friday March 13th. Salem State defeated the Blue Angels first 12-4 in five innings, then the Geneva College beat the Blue Angels in gritty 8-4 affair.
In the first game, the Blue Angels got behind early, but battled throughout. After surrendering a grand slam in the opening frame, MMU came back in the top of the second and added two runs of their own.
Down 11-2 in the top of the fifth, with Molly Peck (Fr./Milwaukee, Wis.) at first, the Blue Angels second basemen Nicole Weggen (Jr./Menomonee Falls, Wis.) drilled her first collegiate homerun pulling MMU within seven runs. Following the two run outburst, Salem St added one more run in the bottom of the fifth to end the game in five innings.
The second matchup had the Blue Angels go back and forth with Geneva College. In the bottom of the second a collision between Weggen and the GC base runner was ruled runner obstruction allowing the Golden Tornadoes to keep the inning alive, and allowed Geneva to plate three runs.
MMU answered right back in the top of the third with three runs of their own off of five hits, including Katie Edwards' (Sr./Mackinaw, Ill.) team leading seventh RBI.
Down 4-3 going into the fifth, the Blue Angels scratched out an unearned run to tie the game once again.
Geneva hit a base clearing triple in the bottom half of the sixth to take the lead. After adding one more, the Golden Tornadoes held on to win 8-4.
In that second game, youngster Ashley Contreras (Fr./College Station, Texas) led the Blue Angels again going 2-4 from the plate with a double; Contreras has led the Blue Angels all year in doubles, and now has six on the season.
"We knew having 12 games in a week could drain our players' energy…" coach Tim Edwards went on, "…but I am really proud of the fight today! We kept the intensity and the fight until the very end."
The Blue Angels will now have a few days until their next contest. Next on their schedule will be Dominican University on Saturday March 21st. The first pitch will be at 4:00 pm in Des Plaines, Ill.
