(Photo Courtesy of Stetson Athletics)
Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2
Stetson (4-0) remained undefeated on the young season by winning a pair of games Friday in two completely different fashions.
In game one, the Hatters hit two home runs and scored in every inning en route to a 9-0 victory over Elon. In the nightcap, Stetson needed a strong pitching and defensive effort to force extra innings, then scored six times in the top of the eighth to earn a 7-1 victory over Campbell.
Freshman Jessie TenBroeck hit a big three-run triple in the extra frame to help put the game out of reach.
“It was a new pitcher, so we didn’t really know much about her,” TenBroeck said about her at-bat. “I knew the team was relying on me, it was a big situation with the bases loaded, so I had to pull through.”
Sarah Read pitched four strong innings for Stetson before giving way to Meredith Owen (3-0) in the fifth. Owen pitched four scoreless innings of relief, working out of jams in the fifth and the seventh to help force extra innings.
“I thought both games our pitching and defense did an exceptionally good job, and I thought in the second game we just couldn’t break the gate and get going with the runs,” Stetson head coach Frank Griffin said. “It was the eighth inning before we were in a position to do some damage.”
With the international tiebreak rule in effect and Stetson playing as the visiting team, Courtney Brandt singled home Demi Meza to put Stetson ahead 2-1. Jessica Griffin followed with an RBI single off the top of the center field fence, and after Hawn walked to load the bases, TenBroeck split the rightcenter field gap to clear the bases.
“She is very versatile,” Frank Griffin said about the 5-foot TenBroeck. “She is a strong young lady. She is small in size but she plays very big.”
Read allowed just three hits over four innings in her second start of the year. She struck out two and did not walk a batter. Owen struck out five in relief for her second win of the day.
“I thought Sarah did a real good job,” Griffin said. “I felt like it was a good time to bring ‘Mo’ in and hope we could get one run to win the game. We ended up getting six so it worked out.”
In game one, Stetson scored once in the first, twice in the second, once in the third, and five times in the fourth en route to the 9-0 victory. Owen went 2-for-2 with a double, a home run and three RBI to lead the offense. She also pitched all five innings, allowing just three hits for her first shutout of the season.
Morgan Hatch also homered and drove in a pair of runs, while TenBroeck singled twice, stole two bases, including home, and scored twice.
For the day, TenBroeck had five hits including a double and a triple, four runs, four stolen bases, and three RBI. Morello had four hits and three stolen bases.
In other games Friday, Bethune-Cookman defeated Campbell 3-2 and Elon defeated Bethune-Cookman 5-0. The Hatters Invitational continues Saturday with Stetson hosting Campbell and Bethune-Cookman.
