WINTER HAVEN, Florida -- The Heidelberg University softball team picked up a split on Tuesday, finishing the front part of their trip to The Spring Games with an extra-inning loss and a run-rule victory. The Student Princes are 2-4 on the season -- including three losses by two runs or less.
Jessica Voitko and
Emma Dean each picked up four hits on a day in which the 'Berg offense seemed to relax -- resulting in 18 hits.
Murissa Drown added three hits.
WENTWORTH 6 BERG 5 (8 innings)
After a 'Berg run was taken off the board with an appeal to end the top of the first, Wentworth took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. The Leopards tacked on three in the third and led 4-0 after three.
Dean doubled to lead off the fourth and moved to third on a long fly ball by Voitko. Drown served a single to center, plating Dean with HU's first run of the game.
After reliever
Hailey Schink worked out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth, the Heidelberg offense went back to work in the fifth.
Hanna Blasinsky ignited a three-run rally with a perfectly placed bunt single. After stealing second, she moved to third on a solid single by
Halie Monhollen.
Ellie Tressler delivered a sharp double to left that drove in two runs. With two outs, Voitko hit a ground ball through the right side that allowed Tressler to slide in safely with the tying run.
Knotted at four in the seventh, Megan Bame drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Monhollen -- whose feet were definitely in the batter's box. Dean contributed a clutch two-out single to left center that drove in Bame with the go-ahead run.
Wentworth (5-0) tied the game in the seventh with a sacrifice fly, which sent the game into extra innings. Heidelberg stranded two in the top of the eighth. With a drawn-in infield, a line-drive single that tipped off the tip of the glove of a leaping Dean drove in the winning run for the Leopards.
Caitlin Dems started and went 3+ innings, allowing four runs. Schink, who once had a brief stint as a high school football quarterback, worked 4.1 innings, allowing one run and striking out three.
BERG 9 PENN ST. BERKS 1
In a total 180 from their modus operandi, Heidelberg opted to beat the brakes off a team instead of losing by a run or two. The unsuspecting victim was Penn St. Berks -- a team which beat OAC foe Muskingum on Monday, 5-3.
Heidelberg spotted the Nittany Lions a run in the top of the second before taking the lead later that inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Blasinsky drew a walk that forced in Bame.
Jade Torres followed with a hard-hit ball up the middle that drove in Drown and
Ryann Ramacciatti.
Up 3-1, HU put a five-spot on the board in the third. Dean and Voitko singled, as usual. Bame followed with a single that allowed Dean to narrowly beat the throw home with a great slide. An errant throw by the shortstop allowed Drown to reach and pinch runner Bella Fuentes to score. Next, Ramacciatti rocketed a double to the gap in left center, plating Bame. A misplay on a squeeze play brought home pinch runner
Morgan Woycitzky. The final run scored on a double steal.
Following a 1-2-3 frame from Voitko in the fourth, HU tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth. Pinch hitter
Alyssa Bennett drew a four-pitch walk, then flew around the bases on a double to left center by Dean. Bennett barrelled into home with a head-first slide, giving Heidelberg a 9-1 advantage.
With the mercy-rule looming, Voitko worked a perfect fifth inning to seal the win.
Voitko (1-2) retired 11 of the last 12 batters she faced, going the distance and picking up her second career win. The senior from Wadsworth fanned a career-high five batters.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
With nine hits in each game, Heidelberg raised its team batting average 60 points on Tuesday … Voitko has already set a career high with 15.0 innings pitched.
UP NEXT
'Berg softball will enjoy a day off in Central Florida on Wednesday before lacing up the cleats again on Thursday. HU will face Carnegie Mellon and Johnson & Wales, starting at 9 a.m.
