Clermont, FL- The Mount Mary softball team has completed six games as part of the Spring Games played in Florida. The highlights thus far for the team have been two exciting extra inning victories.
The Blue Angels defeated Rivier University in an exciting extra inning contest on Monday morning, March 6th.
The Blue Angels struck first in the contest, plating 2 runs in the top of the first, Micaela Gonzalez continued the positive trend of reaching base and scoring and MMU would hold the lead until the 7th.
Brianna Lupa had a stellar day both pitching and hitting against Rivier. She went the distance in the pitching circle for her third win of the season, and helped her cause at the plate with three hits. Her home run in the top of the 7th proved to be a huge run in the tight contest.
Rivier would rally in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game at 3 and send the early morning game to an 8th inning. In addition to Lupa, Marissa Heraly and Kaylee Baker were the offensive stars for MMU, they both came through with clutch hits in extra innings, to preserve a 5-3 win for Mount Mary.
The Blue Angels grabbed another thrilling win on Tuesday, March 7th. After falling behind 2-0, the Blue Angels tied the game against Allegheny of Pennsylvania, Kaylee Baker had a clutch hit in the 4th to even the game at 2.
The game stayed deadlocked into the 8th inning, Allegheny seemed to take control with a single run in the top of the 8th. Not to be denied, Mount Mary staged a game winning two run eighth for a 4-3 win, Marissa Heraly knocked in the game tying run, and Sam Allen came up to pinch hit. Allen proved clutch as she knocked in the game winner with a walkoff single to beat Allegheny 4-3. Heraly has been an offensive standout on the early season, she continued to stay locked in at the plate, going 2-3 in the win over Allegheny.
Bri Lupa picked up her 4th pitching win of the season, allowing only one run in over six innings of work.
Other results thus far in Florida have been the Blue Angels falling to Penn State Berks, Lebanon Valley, Bluffton and Emmanuel.
Head Coach Perry Clark on the trip's first six games, "We are doing what we are supposed to be doing in Florida. We are working to determine our best 10 or 11 players, giving everyone on our team an opportunity to prove themselves. We have fallen short of expectations in a few of our games but we are starting to gel as a team." Clark continued, "we are playing like a young team and we need to execute the fundamentals on the field and be a more consistent hitting team."
Mount Mary (4-11) will have Wednesday off before hitting the field again on Thursday, March 9th. The Blue Angels will take on Concordia Moorhead at 8 am and Roanoke at 1 pm.
