The softball team moved to 4-11 on the season after going 1-4 at the Spring Games tournament in Madeira Beach, Florida. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
In their final tournament before conference play, the University of Rhode Island Softball team finished 1-4 at the Spring Games Softball Tournament this past weekend with their lone victory coming against Georgetown University.
“I think the team did good over the weekend,” Head Coach Whitney Goldstein said. “Obviously the results of the games didn’t go as we would’ve liked, but it’s the same as I’ve been saying, we’re just looking to get better every week and continue to make strides.”
Game 1 set the tone for how the weekend would go for the Rams as they would find themselves in competitive, close games. Against Long Island University, neither team scored until the third inning when a sacrifice fly ball by Ciara Granado sent Kiana Cisneros home to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead. Granado hit a base hit later in the fifth inning that brought Camryn Lyman home to push the Sharks lead to 2-0, where it would remain for the rest of the game.
Radford University was URI’s next opponent in Game 2 in another close matchup. The lone score came in the third inning when Cassi Barbato scored on Cori McMillan’s single to center field. The Highlanders held on to win 1-0 as the Rams failed to score runs.
Rhody turned things around against Georgetown University in Game 3. The Hoyas struck first, but Rams scored in the third inning when junior Cassie Swenson sent Skyler Rapuano home on a double hit into left-center field. Sami Villrreal duplicated that hit on her double, this time to right-center field, sending Swenson home.
With the 2-1 lead, the Rams continued their scoring streak in an amazing fourth inning. Their three runs came on an electric three-run homer by sophomore Vicki Viaclovsky, sending Rachel Zingerman and Susan Harrison home to extend the lead to 5-1. The Hoyas attempted to make a comeback, scoring in the fifth and the sixth, but it wasn’t enough as the Rams held on to win 6-4.
The Rams played Georgia Southern in Game 4, and it resembled the first two games in terms of scoring. The score remained tied until the fourth inning when the Eagles broke through on a double to left-center field from Janai Conklin. This brought Aniston Johnson home, giving the Eagles the 1-0 win. Despite the loss, URI pitcher Liz Lynchard had a strong outing with five strikeouts and only the one run allowed in four innings pitched.
Capping off the weekend was Central Michigan in Game 5 in a high scoring matchup. The Chippewas initiated the early scores with Michaleigh Vallimont singling up the middle, sending Shannon Stein home. This was followed by Skylar Coberely scoring on a Kelsey Alexander single, giving them the 2-0 lead.
URI answered back in the bottom of the first when senior Ari Castillo singled to center field and brought Rapuano home to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Unfortunately, things went downhill fast for the Rams when Central Michigan scored seven runs in the second. The scoring onslaught was capped off with a home run by Alexander, giving the Chippewas a commanding 9-1 lead. This lead continued to grow in the third with three more runs tacked on.
Rhody regrouped in the fifth inning, gaining some momentum with five runs scored. It started with Rapuano singling to left field, sending Gabi Lopez home. Followed by Villarreal’s fly ball to center field with Maddie Melice scoring. The biggest play came from Castillo on a three-run homer to left field, bringing in both Rapuano and Jessica Hennelly in the 14-7 loss.
“I think we did pretty good over the weekend,” Rapuano said. “We really fought hard, the losses were close [and] in that last game we had one bad inning, but I think overall we did good.”
The team begins A-10 play against the University of Dayton in a three-game home stretch on Saturday at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and on Sunday at 12 p.m.