Gross Finishes With Two RBI as Softball Faces West Liberty and Slippery Rock
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Box Score 2 CLERMONT, Fla. (Mar. 8, 2015) – Sophomore Julie Gross (Port Monmouth, N.J./Middletown North) drove in a pair of runs as the Mercy College softball team dropped a 7-2 decision to West Liberty and a 4-2 outcome to Slippery Rock on Sunday afternoon in Florida.
The Mavericks fall to 0-4 on the year, while West Liberty moves to 1-2 and Slippery Rock improves to 2-2.
Game 1: West Liberty 7, Mercy 2
The first game of the day saw the Mavericks fall behind in the bottom of the second as the Hilltoppers plated a pair of runs on three hits to take a 2-0 lead. West Liberty added on a pair of runs in the fourth to build a 4-0 advantage after four.
Mercy plated their lone runs of the contest in the sixth as Gross doubled home senior Jackie Couillard and junior Amanda Gardiner (Stratford, N.J./Sterling) to cut the deficit to 4-2. The Hilltoppers would put the game away with a three-spot in the bottom half of the sixth to build a 7-2 advantage and withstood a pair of hits by the Mavericks in the seventh to earn the win.
Gross ended the game 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI and Gardiner went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Game 2: Slippery Rock 4, Mercy 2
The second game of the day saw the Rock get on the board first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second to take a 2-0 lead after two. Slippery Rock would increase their lead to three in the next inning, scoring a run on a double steal to build a 3-0 edge after three.
The Mavericks tightened the game up in the fourth as Gardiner continued her strong start to the season with an RBI single that scored sophomore Katiana Golino (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) following a Rock error and hit by pitch. Freshman Morgan Lloyd (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) would follow suit with an RBI single of her own to score Couillard to cut the deficit to 3-2 with no outs in the inning. Mercy couldn't find the equalizer as the next three batters struck out to end the threat.
The Rock would tack on an insurance run in the bottom half of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead and held on for the win.
Gardiner and Lloyd would each finish 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Head Coach Mike Fazio return to action tomorrow as they take on East Stroudsburg at 9 am and Stonehill at 11 am in Florida.
