MELBOURNE, Fla.— The Montreat softball team opened its spring-break slate Monday afternoon with a pair of non-conference contests at the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Melbourne, Fla. Working around several spells of rain, the Cavaliers lost a 3-0 decision against the Aquinas College Saints before falling to the Indiana Institute of Technology Warriors in five innings, 10-0. With the defeats, the Cavs dropped to 5-18 on the season.
Aquinas (9-6) broke through with the game's opening run in the top of the first inning thanks to a leadoff double, a stolen base and a throwing error; however, despite that small blip,
Kendall Rubel held the Saints at bay for the majority of the contest. Through her initial five innings of work, the freshman surrendered just one run while striking out a pair of batters.
Montreat moved its first runner into scoring position on a 1-out double off the bat of
Alyssa Hudson in the bottom of the fourth, but the Cavaliers couldn't take advantage. Meanwhile, Aquinas capitalized on a single and an error in the sixth by bringing home two important insurance runs via a triple to right field.
Jasmine Rachal and
Cameryn Bass notched back-to-back hits in the bottom half of the sixth, but a double play ended the rally. Following a 1-2-3 seventh frame, the Saints took the ballgame behind a 3-0 final score.
Rubel threw the third complete game of her Cavalier career in the defeat, pitching the full seven innings and allowing just two earned runs. The Dunedin, Fla. native also punched out four Saints. Offensively, Rachal tallied two of the Cavs' four hits in the leadoff spot. All four of Montreat's base knocks came from the top-three hitters in the batting order.
The Cavaliers ended the day with a matchup against the Indiana Tech Warriors. In the nightcap, Indiana Tech (16-2) controlled the game from beginning to end as it topped the Cavs with a 10-run shutout in five innings. The Warriors scored a trio of runs in the first, a pair of runs in the third, four more runs in the fourth and a single run in the fifth. No stats were reported as of Tuesday morning.
The Montreat softball team remains in Florida for two more non-conference games at the USSSA Space Coast Complex Tuesday morning. The Cavaliers square off against Indiana University South Bend at 10:00 a.m., and they face Hannibal-LaGrange University at 11:30 a.m.
