CLERMONT, Fla. – The Thomas University softball team bounced back this morning to defeat St. Thomas University 4-1 after suffering their first round loss to Ave Maria. With the victory, the Lady Night Hawks eliminated St. Thomas from the Sun Conference Championship Tournament.
Following a scoreless first inning, the Lady Night Hawks jumped on the board first scoring a run in the bottom of the second. First baseman
Carmen Nadal led off the inning with a double to the left-center. Senior
Sorrel Hale came on as a pinch runner and advanced to third on a grounder by catcher
Michael Cooper. With one out in the inning, designated player
Kelsey Connolly drove in the first Lady Night Hawk run of the game with an RBI-single to right, giving Thomas the 1-0 lead.
TU's starting pitcher,
Katie Lopes, took a no-hitter into the top of the fourth, but the Lady Bobcats' bats came alive to tie the game at 1-1. STU's pitcher Cristina Sacramento aided her effort on the mound by leading off the inning with a double to left. Sacramento would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt before catcher Kristen Scott drove her in with an RBI-single up the middle, tying the game at 1-1.
After being held scoreless over the next three innings, Thomas broke the silence and took the 4-1 lead. Left fielder
Chandler Seay led the inning off with a single to left. She would come around to score when third baseman
Rachel Hoeft launched a triple to the right-center gap. With runners on the corners and still no outs in the inning, Cooper ripped a two-RBI double that would score Hoeft and Nadal.
Lopes (12-5) pitched a complete game to pick up the win while Sacramento (4-11) suffered the loss. The right-hander struck out two of the 31 batters she faced while only surrendering one earned run on seven hits.
Thomas improves to 35-12 on the year while St. Thomas drops to 7-23. The Lady Night Hawks return to action later this afternoon where they face fourth-seed Embry-Riddle in an elimination game. First pitch is slated for 2:00 p.m. at the National Training Center.
For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit
www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, and feature stories of your TU softball team by following them via Twitter at
@NightHawksSoftb.