UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE TOURNAMENT
Game 4 box
EVANSVILLE, Ind.-- With a late-innings rally in the nightcap Sunday, the Detroit Titan softball team split a pair of games in the final day of the University of Evansville tournament. Detroit went 1-3 on the weekend as the offense began to heat up, scoring nine runs Sunday.
Detroit trailed 3-0 after two innings thanks to three unearned runs plated with two outs in the final game against the host Purple Aces. But, the Titans got two of them back in the top of the sixth on a two-run homer by
Sara Cupp, who has notched a hit in each of the last six games.
The late dramatics continued in the final inning when freshman
Vanessa Garcia singled to start the seventh. The rookie continued her hot start with her ninth hit in 19 at bats (.474) and set Detroit up for its first win. Her single through the left side started the frame and she later came around to score on senior
Renee Zaccagni's hit up-the-middle to tie the score.
The eventual winning run came two batters later when freshman
Alyssa Schaub roped an RBI double to score pinch-runner
Hannah Klenk and Detroit held a 4-3 lead going into the home half of the seventh.
Titan starter
Julia Maksym had scattered just five hits in her six innings of work heading into the final inning. She wriggled free of a jam in the seventh, stranding a pair of runners by inducing a lineout and a grounder to end it and give her the win in the circle. She went the distance, striking out a pair and walking three without an earned run to lower her ERA on the season.
Sunday's finale came after Detroit's bats came alive in the first game of the day. Sophomore
Karyn McCarty hit a solo homer to leadoff the second inning, but it was a four-run sixth that got the momentum flowing. The Titans sent eight batters to the plate in the inning and had five hits in that inning alone to come back from a 7-1 deficit. Schaub and
Rachel Copple stroke singles to start the rally and
Shelby Long smacked a two-run double to right to score them both.
Alyssa Gietl followed with an RBI single and Garcia laced a run-scoing double to left to put Detroit within 7-5 through six innings.
In the seventh, Detroit got the tying run to the plate with back-to-back hits with two down but UMKC's reliever got a strikeout to end the threat.
On Saturday, fellow Horizon League foe Butler used a one-hit performance from Leah Bry to grab an 8-0 win in the opener. BU-- who was picked to finish runner-up in the HL this season-- rapped 10 hits in the Bulldog win.
The second game Saturday saw a pitcher's duel with Detroit holding a 1-0 lead for the bulk of the game. The Titans went ahead in the second inning when Garcia singled with one down and came around for an unearned run thre batters later. That lead held up until the bottom half of the final inning when the home team rallied to post a pair to snatch the win. Maksym went 6.1 innings with two runs scored, four walks and four strikeouts.
Garcia, who led Detroit with a .556 batting average in the opening weekend of the season, again paced the UDM offense with a .400 clip in Evansville. Cupp added a team-high five hits while Copple collected four on the weekend. Maksym started three of the four games and threw 14 innings for a 2.50 ERA on the week.
Detroit will embark on a week-long trip to Kissimmee, Fla. during Spring Break to participate in the Rebel Spring Games. The 10-game trip starts Mar. 4 and continues through Mar. 10.
