MIAMI, Fla. – On Friday afternoon, Florida Atlantic University’s softball team donned uniforms and took to the softball field for the first time in more than a year. While both games saw the Owls jump to early leads, it was their opponents’ late-inning scoring that proved fatal in a 4-2 loss to Winthrop and a 7-5 loss to tournament host FIU.
Game One
The Owls opened the game with back-to-back doubles, followed by a two-run single by senior catcher Kaitlyn Burke. Winthrop then held FAU to just one additional hit and no runs as they mounted a comeback with one run in the second and a three-run homer to left in the fifth to take the game. Newcomer to the FAU circle, Dontaysha Gobourne, suffered up the loss after four innings of work.
Game Two
The game was scoreless through two innings, but inning three saw the bats come alive in both dugouts. The Owls started first, plating three runs in the top half of the inning but saw FIU erase the deficit by two in the bottom of the frame. FAU added runs in the fourth and fifth, one of which was a solo shot to left by Riley Ennis, but FIU used the bottom half of the fifth to take the lead by scoring four for a 6-5 lead, and added an insurance run in the bottom of the six. Junior Lynn Gardner, who pitched the final two innings of game one, started game two and took the loss after 4.2 innings of work.
JOYCE’S TAKE”I was very excited to get the games in,” said Joan Joyce, FAU’s head coach. “There were a lot of things that we did pretty good today. After the first game, we hit the ball and scored a bunch of runs. One key hit in the first game beat us. In the second game it was really the same way.”
On standout performances
“Maddie Carlock played an awesome game in rightfield. Early on in the second game, she took away at least doubles for FIU hitters and the there was another catch that she almost made in foul territory.”
STATISTICALLY
- Sara Berthiaume was 3-for-7, including a double and a triple with two runs scored
- Kaitlyn Burke was 4-for-6 with three RBI and a stolen base
- Gardner tallied two RBI in game two to help her cause
- Gobourne tossed four innings, struck out four and walked four while facing 21 batters in her FAU debut
- Gardner threw 6.2 innings, tallied three strikeouts and two walks
WHAT’S NEXTFAU will return to the campus of FIU on Saturday for a scheduled doubleheader with Winthrop. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Follow the team on twitter @FAUSoftball.
