SCF Sports: FGCU Softball vs Ball State Recap

FGCU Softball vs Ball State Recap

The FGCU softball team (4-0) wrapped up the FGCU Kickoff Classic by defeating Ball State (3-1) by a score of 4-1. With the win, the Eagles are 4-1 overall against the Cardinals.

Before the FGCU vs. Ball State game, two games were played prior. NC State beat Memphis 2-1. Georgetown would follow LIU and win 8-3.

Head coach Dave Deiros brought back his ace pitcher in junior Riley Randolph while Ball State attempted to counter with senior Carolyn Wilmes. Randolph had no problem in the top of the first as she struck out two of her three batters.

The Eagles would strike first on the scoreboard. Senior Ashley Swiderski began with a walk. After stealing second, junior Racquel Fournet struck a two-run homer to right field.

Randolph managed to strikeout the side with ease. From the third to the fourth inning, Randolph had at least one strikeout in the game. Randolph's shutout was suddenly stopped as sophomore Kennedy Wynn hit a lead-off solo home run to put the Cardinals on the board, but after that Randolph managed to sneak away and get another strikeout in the inning.

At the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles added a little insurance to keep them ahead. Swiderski would start off with a lead-off double. After a walk to Fournet, senior Emily Demurius managed to reach first on a bunt and fielding error. With the bases loaded, senior Brittany McGuire would get hit by a pitch and send Swiderski to score the third run of the game. Initially, McGuire was called for a foul ball struck, but the home plate umpire reversed his original decision. Freshman Ahnie Jumper came in to pinch run for McGuire. Senior Lulu Newmark would then bring the fourth and final Eagles run on a fielder's choice and bring in Fournet.

After getting senior Catie O'Donnell to strikeout and sophomore Haley Dominique to popout, Randolph was pulled out and freshman Taylor Bauman went to finished the inning getting freshman Hayley Demnianiuk to ground out. At the seventh inning, Bauman managed to get sophomore Janae Hogg to popout and junior Madison Lee to strikeout, Wynn would reach first on a error, but it did not make much difference as Bauman got senior Maddy Labrador to groundout and end the game.

Randolph would earn the win after throwing 5.2 innings. Randolph gave up one run on one hit while striking out nine batters. Bauman earned her fourth save after throwing 1.1 scoreless inning and striking out one batter.

"It was a great weekend; we won the tournament as the only undefeated team in the field," said Deiros. "We won them in different facets – the last two days have been our pitching with two one-hitters in consecutive days. Just great performances from White and Randolph along with Bauman going 4-for-4 in saves this weekend. We're ready to go and look forward to facing USF this Wednesday."

Fournet had the only multi-hit game as she went 2-for-2 with a single, the two-run homer and two runs scored.

Swiderski, McGuire, senior Kelsey Huff and senior Brianne Innamorato contributed with one hit. Huff, Swiderski, Innamorato and sophomore Kate Kelly added one stolen base each.

Wilmes (2-1) would be credited with the loss after throwing three innings and giving up two runs on four hits with one walk and one strikeout.

Sophomore Alyssa Rothwell tried to fill in for Wilmes, but to no avail. Rothwell ended up with the same result as she threw three innings and gave up two runs on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.

Wynn's home run was the only hit the Cardinals could possess.

Quotes from Other Coaches from Other Games:
NC State: "Looking at today's game, I think we made a good step," said head coach Shawn Rychcik. "It's something we talked about this weekend that we have to continue to get better. We started five freshmen, three sophomores, a junior and a senior today. We're going to have some moments but I'm glad and we progressed."

"We played a couple of teams we should have handled and we did, and we played a couple of tougher teams but we didn't finish the way we should have. We were able to handle the adversity today in the seventh inning when we got a couple of bad breaks which is a good sign for us and a confidence builder."

"There was a good vibe in the dugout all weekend, especially in game five of the weekend at 9 a.m.," Rychcik said on the dugout energy. "We were up early and it's hard when you don't normally practice and operate that early normally. We had a lot of energy and were in a much better spot coming into that game. Our upper classmen helped us to come out with a lot of energy and our team as a whole did a great job. There's a lot of work to be done but there's a point you do as much as you can and then need to be challenged by game pressures and scenarios. It's different in games and now we can address a few things we need to get better at, so we'll get back to work and prepare for next weekend."

Memphis: "Molly pitched a great game, but we were unable to recover from a couple of defensive miscues," said head coach Natalie Poole. "We didn't take advantage in early situations and just came up short at the end."

In the end, the results came in as followed in order:
1. FGCU (4-0)
2. Memphis (3-1)
3. Ball State (3-1)
4. NC State (3-1)
5. Georgetown (1-3)
6. LIU-Brooklyn (0-4)

All-in-all, the season for the softball team is off to a good start. Up next, the Eagles face USF in a doubleheader on Valentine's Day. Games are set to start at 4 P.M and 6 P.M. It is also a Blueout as marketing is encouraging fans to wear blue to the game.

Below are some pics of me with some of members of the softball team after the game: