Yellow Jackets defeat Benedictine in extra inning thriller
CLERMONT, Fla. - After dropping game one to Westminster yesterday afternoon (Mar. 7), the Yellow Jackets bounced back in game two and earned a thrilling 4-3 victory against Benedictine in nine innings.
Game two vs. Benedictine
The Yellow Jackets (2-5) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first but could only push one run across. Anika Craft singled to left and Laney Grimwood scored on the play. Natalee Cooper flied out and Savannah McCoy grounded out to end the inning.
The Yellow Jackets maintained their 1-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth when the Eagles (7-3) tied the game at one. The first three batters reached via hit before Craft retired the side in order to get out of the jam.
DC had runners on first and second with two outs in the top of the 7th looking to take the lead, but Brooke Silcox's line drive was snagged by Benedictine's first baseman to end the top half of the seventh. Craft worked around a one out single by the Eagles in the bottom of the seventh to force the game into extra innings.
Extra innings were sloppy defensively on both sides as each team committed one error in the eighth and both runs in the inning were scored on the error. Madison Guggenbiller was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs for DC and Ali Mowen flew out to end the inning. Benedictine tied the game by scoring on an error by Savanah Bergman. The Eagles had runners on first and second and Anika Craft worked out of the jam to keep the game tied.
The Yellow Jackets regained the lead in the ninth when Brooke Silcox reached on an error and Ali Mowen scored. Payton Mallet hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Bergman scored on the play. Bergman's run ended up being the game-winning run.
Benedictine had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the ninth looking to tie the game. The Eagles scored one on an RBI groundout. Craft walked the next batter to put runners on first and third. With two outs, Savannah Bergman snagged a line drive off the bat of Morgan Bruno to seal the victory for the Yellow Jackets.
Craft went the distance to improve to 2-0 and struck out three while only allowing one earned run. Craft also had three hits and one RBI in the game and Bergman added two hits.
Game one vs. Westminster
The Titans (4-4) scored three runs on no hits in the first to take an early 3-0 lead. They added one more in the second. Their first four runs were scored with no hits.
Natalee Cooper smacked an RBI double in the second inning to put DC on the board and Brooke SIlcox scored on the play.
The Titans scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and one in the sixth to take an 8-1 lead.
The Yellow Jackets added one run in the seventh. Savannah Bergman singled home Madison Guggenbiller before Savannah McCoy popped out to end the game. Both Carlee Young and Emma Birr made their collegeiate debuts. Young as a pinch hitter and Birr as a pinch runner.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action this morning against Fontbonne and this afternoon against North Central at the Fortune Road Athletic Complex in Kissimmee.
