DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Two days after securing their second conference series win of the season, the Lander Softball team opened spring break by picking up wins over the Assumption Greyhounds, 3-2, and the Embry-Riddle Eagles, 4-2, on Tuesday afternoon at Radiology Associates Field on the campus of Embry-Riddle.
It was the first ever meeting between the Bearcats and Greyhounds and the win over Embry-Riddle was the program's first over the Eagles.
Lander improved to 16-4 this season while Assumption dropped to 2-3 and Embry-Riddle dropped to 11-8 with the later two teams playing the last game of the day against each other.
Seven different Bearcats picked up hits across the two games which both turned into pitching duels with Taylor Scott and Bailey Pattison both picking up the wins for the Blue and Gold, only allowing three earned runs combined.
Game 1: Lander 3, Assumption 2
After a quiet first inning for both teams, Scott found herself in a bit of trouble in the second with the Greyhounds loading the bases with two outs but the graduate student was able to work out of it by inducing a 2-3 groundout to keep the game scoreless.
Assumption got a run across in the third on an RBI single but Lander loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning which allowed Bella Angeli to score Rylee Omahen on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one after three played.
Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth but a two-out RBI single by the Greyhounds gave them the lead back in the top of the fifth. Lander would find their response, however, in the bottom of the sixth as with two on and two out, Jordan Sikes delivered an RBI single to tie the game at two and the next batter saw Logan Coward come home on a wild pitch to give the Bearcats the lead at 3-2. Scott only needed four batters to close out the game in the top of the seventh to secure her sixth win of the year.
Game 2: Lander 4, Embry-Riddle 2
Lander got all four of their runs in the second inning aided by a pair of Eagle errors and RBIs from Emily Allen and Gracie Derrick.
Pattison held Embry-Riddle without a hit until the fifth inning where the Eagles were able to cut the lead in half off a double steal of home and a squeeze play. But the rest of the way the Eagles only got a pair of hits in the sixth that they couldn't scratch across and a walk in the seventh that Pattison was able to easily work around to secure her eighth win of the year.
Up Next:
Lander returns to the friendly confines of Doug Spears Field for the first time since February 17th as they open a three-game set with Columbus State, weather permitting. The first game of the series is scheduled for Friday, March 8th at 4:00 PM with a doubleheader to follow the next day starting at noon.
