FLORENCE, SC – Francis Marion University split a pair of games on the opening day of the Patriot Invitational Softball Tournament, Friday (Feb. 20). The sixth-ranked Patriots defeated 23rd-ranked Kutztown University 3-2 in 10 innings and dropped a 9-3 decision to Flagler College in the nightcap.
The tournament will conclude on Saturday with two games. FMU (11-3) will face Kutztown (3-3) at 3 p.m. and Flagler (2-8) again at 5 p.m.
Patriot senior shortstop
Madalyn White laid down a bunt single in the bottom of the first inning of the first contest to set a new career hits record with 254. The old mark of 253 was held by Shannon Tyson, who played between 2006 and 2009.
Also in the opener, senior right-hander
Jenna Walling (7-2) earned the win in relief. She pitched 3.2 scoreless innings and scored the game-winning run in the 10th. She and starting pitcher
Alyssa Poston combined to fan 17 Kutztown batters – one shy of the Patriot single-game record. Poston struck out nine and Walling eight.
That victory also tied Walling with Amy Birch (2000-03) for second position on the school's career wins list with 64.
FMU took a 1-0 lead over Kutztown in the bottom of the first. White registered her record-setting hit, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a two-out bloop single to center by junior designated hitter
McKenzie Jewell.
The margin when upped to 2-0 when White manufactured a run in her next at bat. She was hit by a pitch and then went all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior left fielder
Anderson Thrower. When the throw to third got away from the shortstop, who was covering the bag, White came home to score.
The Golden Bears forced extra innings by scoring two runs and chasing Poston in the top of the seventh.
Utilizing the international tie-breaker rule of placing a runner on second to start the inning, neither team was able to push across a run in the eighth or ninth frames, although FMU got a runner to third with only one in both innings.
In the 10th inning, Walling was the runner placed on second. She moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior center fielder
Mikaela Goss. White then bunted up the first base line, and when the ball was thrown past the fielder at first, Walling came in to score the winning run.
In the second contest of the day, Flager defeated Kutztown 10-0 in six innings.
In the nightcap against Flagler, FMU took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. White walked to lead off, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and took third on a ground out. Jewell delivered a two-out RBI single to left center to give the Patriots a 1-0 advantage. After Jewell moved to second on a wild pitch, senior second baseman
Rylie Webster lined a run-scoring single to left center.
The Saints trimmed the margin in half (2-1) with a run in the top of the second. Webster then restored the two-run lead with a long home run to left field in the bottom of the third.
The score remained 3-1 until Flagler scored three times in the fifth on only one hit. The Saints then added five insurance runs in the seventh, highlighted by a grand slam home run by catcher Emily Ricci.
Walling had a pair of doubles in the nightcap – one down each line – to join Webster as the only Patriots with multiple hits. Walling was also tagged with the loss, as she surrendered four runs on four hits in 4.1 innings. Freshmen right-handers
Reese Watson and
Laini Kosinski also saw time in the circle for FMU.
