Softball Splits on Opening Day, Beats Simpson in Extra Innings
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Westminster (Pa.) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
|
Mitchell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Final (8) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mitchell | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
|
Simpson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Mitchell College softball team opened the 2016 season with a split at the Rebel Spring Games, falling 5-1 to Westminster (Pa.) College before winning 5-4 in extra innings against Simpson College.
Brittany Fiederlein pitched all 15.0 innings and allowed a total of three earned runs on the day. She picked up her first win of the season against Simpson after Shannon O'Neil put the Mariners in front in the eighth with a ground out that allowed Samantha DelConte to score from third base.
Mitchell fell behind 2-0 early against Simpson but tied the game with single runs in the third and fourth innings. An RBI ground out by Jenny Groman put the Mariners on the scoreboard in the third, and DelConte doubled in a run in the fourth to tie the game at 2-2.
Mitchell took its first lead of the season in the fifth after Danielle Autieri knocked in a pair of runs with a double that plated Groman and Janelle Rice. Simpson pulled even with two runs in the sixth, and after the Mariners went down quietly in the seventh, Fiederlein escaped the home half by getting an inning-ending double play that sent the game into extras.
Simpson put the tying run on third with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Fiederlein got a strike out and fly ball to slam the door. She scattered nine hits and worked around five errors while striking out three and walking one.
The win was also the first in the head coaching career of Keri Tricinelli.
Earlier in the day, Mitchell committed six fielding errors in the loss to Westminster. The Mariners were sluggish at the plate and pushed across their only run on a two-out single by Rice that scored Suzanne Vachon in the first inning.
