BOCA RATON, Fla. – Lynn University's softball team finished up play in the 2011 season with a 10-9 and 5-3 double-header loss to Barry on Sunday. Brittany Gross tied the program record for career hits with 216 as the Fighting Knights closed out the year with a 10-42 overall record and 5-19 mark in Sunshine State Conference play.
The Buccaneers (33-12, 18-5 SSC) raced out to an 8-0 lead in game one before the Blue & White came back in a big way. With the eight run deficit, Lynn took advantage of three Barry errors to go up 9-8.
Katrina Lavadan drove in the first run with a bases loaded single up the middle and was followed by a Mandi Brown RBI single and Cali Darlin RBI ground out to make it 8-3. Kasey Murray drove in the last of the Knights' runs before Barry's defense committed three errors on two plays, allowing four unearned runs to score.
Starter Marianne Johnson then retired 11 of 17 batters until the seventh when Barry pulled off a game-winning attack. The Bucs' Jessica Tabor tied the game with an RBI double in the top of the seventh before a gaffe by the Knights' infield allowed Tabor to reach home for the game-winning run.
Game two saw Barry jump out to a 5-0 lead by the second inning. Cassy Zamora drove in two with a home run while Alyssa Goldsmith also knocked in a pair with a two-run single in the second.
Lynn managed to cut the deficit to two following runs in the third and fourth innings. Darlin drove home the first run with an RBI single to center while a Bucs error and Gross ground out made it a two run game after the fourth frame.
The Knights had a chance to add runs to the scoreboard in the sixth with runners on first and second and one out but the Bucs held LU's bats at bay with consecutive fly outs to end the threat.
Gross, though, was able to tie Meghan Osborne's record for hits in a career with a single to left field in the sixth. She is just the second player in school history with over 200 hits. Senior Katrina Lavadan finished one hit shy of the 200 mark, closing out her career with 199 base hits.
