Jacksonville, FL-The Cleveland State softball team dropped a pair of games to open the JU/UNF Invitational on Friday. The Vikings fell in the opener 3-0 to host Jacksonville and 8-0 in six innings to North Florida in the second game.
In the first game, Jacksonville scored single runs in the first, third and sixth innings to take a three-run advantage. Cleveland State struggled to get anything going offensively as the Vikings managed just three hits, all of which were singles, and five total baserunners.
Sydney Shammo,
Kylie Gorsuch and
Sophie Spellman collected one hit each for CSU.
Katie McDonald pitched all six innings in the circle. She surrendered six hits but yielded just two earned runs while walking three and striking out three.
In the second game,
Brooke Albaugh led off with the first extra-base hit of the day for the Vikings, a triple. She was stranded at third as North Florida retired the next three hitters in order.
UNF got on the board with a two-run home run in the first inning and a single run in the second to take an early 3-0 lead and broke the game open with a four-run fourth thanks to a bases-clearing three-RBI double from Chloe Culp. UNF closed the game with a single run in the sixth inning to win via the run rule. The Vikings mustered just one hit and one walk the rest of the game.
Melissa Holzopfel pitched the first four innings in the circle allowing seven earned runs on nine hits.
Avery Robinson came in for the final two frames, allowing four hits and an earned run in one full inning of work.
Cleveland State returns to the diamond tomorrow for two more games, starting first with a re-match against Jacksonville and then another re-match with North Florida. Action begins at 2:00 p.m.
