BOCA RATON, Fla.—Despite a total of 23 hits and a .377 team batting average in two games, Lynn University's softball team fell to the University of West Florida Argos 8-7 in the first game then 14-5 in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday in regional play.
Freshman Kaci Vassallo gave a career performance on the day for Lynn (0-13), going 5-for-6 at the plate with four RBIs, a home run, and a double while slugging 1.500 and reaching base 87.5 percent of the time.
Mandi Brown and Anne Marie Van Casteren also posted stellar games. Brown went 5-for-8 with two doubles and four RBIs while Van Casteren posted a .625 on base percentage with three runs scored, three hits, and a double.
Callie Darlin received the starting nod in game one and gave up three runs on one hit in inning number one. West Florida capitalized on a Lynn error in the inning as all three runs were unearned.
Lynn answered in the bottom of the first as Delaney Brey earned a walk and scored on a Darlin single to right field. At the end of one, West Florida was up 3-1.
In the top of the third West Florida tagged on two more runs on two hits but Darlin ended the Argos' threat with a two-out strikeout with runners on first and third.
Down 5-1 in the second, Lynn loaded the bases with one out after Marianne Johnson and Brey walked then Van Casteren was hit by a pitch. Vassallo then rocketed a double to right field to score Johnson. Brey was thrown out at home on the play in an attempt to score from second. With runners on second and third and two outs, Brown delivered another double to score Vassallo and Van Casteren and make it a 5-4 game in favor of West Florida.
After a scoreless third, West Florida added two in the fourth to go up by three. In the bottom of the fourth, Brown again delivered a clutch two-out double to score Van Casteren after she reached on a two out single then moved to second on a Vassallo single. Lynn could not however add any more as Kasey Murray grounded out to end the inning with runners on second and third.
The Argos manufactured another run in the sixth to go up 8-5. Lynn could not plate any in the bottom half of the six and after holding UWF to a scoreless seventh need three runs to continue the game.
Murray started off the rally with a single through the left side then moved to second on a Missy Montgomery ground out to short. Bianca Savulak then singled to third while Murray moved to third.
After Carisa Cook struck out, Johnson rifled a two-out double over the center fielders head to score Murray and put the tying run on second base. Brey singled on a bunt to score pinch runner Christina Carvatta and moved the tying run 60 feet away. Van Casteren then struck out to end the game in an 8-7 West Florida victory.
Brown recorded a monster game with three hits, three RBIs and four assists. Vassallo also collected three hits with one run scored and one RBI.
Montgomery took the circle for game two in her first collegiate start of her young career and gave up four run through four innings while have no run support through three.
Down 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth, the Blue & White amassed a rally with two outs. Montgomery reached on a wild pitch on strike three then moved to second a Cook single to right field. After Johnson walked to load the bases, West Florida pitcher Ashliegh McLean was called for an illegal pitch to score Montgomery and put Cook and third and Johnson on second. Van Casteren then drew a walk and it was the one-two combo of Vassallo and Brown delivering back-to-back two out bases load single to cut the West Florida lead down to one and make it a 4-3 game.
West Florida stretched their tilt up to four after scoring three in the fifth then put the final nail in the Fighting Knights' coffin with a seven run sixth. Four of UWF's seven runs in the sixth were unearned.
Lynn was down by 11 in the sixth before Vassallo knocked her first career home run over the centerfield fence to make it 14-5. But the Knights could not complete the miracle comeback and dropped their thirteenth-straight game.
Van Casteren and Vassallo were both 2-for-3 in game number two with Vassallo collecting three RBIs. Brown and Murray posted two hits as well in the second game of the doubleheader.
The Fighting Knights welcome Palm Beach Atlantic to the McCusker Sports Complex Softball Field for a doubleheader in their next contest on Thursday, February 23, at 1 p.m. Stay connected to LynnFightingKnights.com and click on the Game Central icon to access the live audio.
