St. Petersburg, Fla. - Lynn University's softball team dropped a pair of games to Eckerd College Saturday afternoon at the Turley Complex. The Fighting Knights fell in the opener, 6-5 before dropping a 13-0 game in game two. LU is now 10-34 overall and 5-13 in the Sunshine State Conference.
The Fighting Knights took a 4-0 lead in game one after the first two innings with a run in the first and three more in the second. Anne Marie Van Casteren drove in Katrina Lavadan in the first with a fielder's choice after Lavadan had singled with one out in the first.
In the second, Jordan Angel led off the frame with a one-out walk before being called out at second on Megan Mayfield's single. Brittany Gross and Lavadan then laid down consecutive bunt singles to load the bases. Mandi Brown then singled to score Mayfield and Gross also scored on the play on a throwing error by the shortstop. Starting pitcher and cleanup hitter Callie Darlin was the next batter and she delivered with an RBI single to right.
After Eckerd tied the game with a run in the third and three more in the fourth, Lynn retook the lead with a run in the sixth. A walk was issued to Gross to start the inning before Lavadan sacrificed her over with a bunt down the first baseline. Brown was the next to hit and she reached on an error by the second baseman which scored Gross from second base.
The lead was short lived as Eckerd tied it up again in their half of the inning and won the game in the seventh on a walk, sacrifice bunt, and a single.
Darlin also started game two in the circle for the Blue & White but allowed five runs in just 0.2 innings before giving way to Marianne Johnson. Johnson was credited with six earned runs on five hits while fanning three as Eckerd scored five in the first and third innings, sandwiching a three-run second.
Lavadan and Darlin both had three hits apiece for the Knights in the twinbill while Lavadan and Gross both scored a pair of runs. Gross is now just eight hits from tying Meghan Osborne's program-record for hits with 216.
Softball is back on the diamond this weekend when they travel to nearby Nova Southeastern for a three-game SSC series. Friday's single game will start at 6 pm to be followed by a 5 pm doubleheader on Saturday. Fans can follow the action by logging onto www.LynnFightingKnights.com and selecting "Game Central."
