TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Despite chances late in both games to defeat Stanford and Drake, Jacksonville University's softball team fell, 8-4, to the Cardinal and 2-1 to the Bulldogs on the second day of the 2017 Easton Crimson Classic, hosted by the University of Alabama.
"When you're not playing your best softball, it is very important to win the emotional and mental battle," said Head Coach Jennifer Steele, "and we failed at that tonight."
vs. Stanford
A Madison Ragan grand slam in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead wasn't enough as the Dolphins (11-8) allowed five Cardinal runs in the top of the seventh and fell 8-4 to Stanford.
Stanford (12-6) took a 3-0 lead with two outs in the top of the fifth after Haley Snyder drove a ball over the left center wall to give the Cardinal a 2-0 lead. A single into right field from Montana Dixon drove in the Cardinal's third run of the inning before a fastball from Ragan got the final Cardinal out swinging to mitigate the damage.
Ragan seemed to be the game's hero after she hit a grand slam over the left field wall to drive in Heather Roberts, Ciara Jones, and Danielle Baker.
Stanford, however, had other plans as their bats got hot in the top of the seventh and combined for five runs on four hits to put the game out of the Dolphins' reach.
"It's a tough loss because we had many chances. We ran ourselves out of two to three runs on the base paths and weren't able to execute with bases loaded and no outs. Give credit to Stanford; they swung the bat well and hit all of our pitching hard," added Steele. "When you don't pitch, play clean defense, and execute on offense, it's tough to win ball games against good competition. We've been lucky to get away with it in some games in the past, but we must take strides forward if we want to be a serious contender in the ASUN Conference."
The loss drops Ragan to 2-2 in the circle.
vs. Drake
Jacksonville rallied with two outs to tie the game at 1-1 in the top of the fifth after Baker drove in Jordan Daniels, who reached on a fielder's choice.
The Dolphins were unable to stop the Bulldog offense in the bottom of the seventh, however, as Drake's Megan Sowa drove in Tasha Alexander to seal the game for the Bulldogs, 2-1.
Drake (13-8) got got on the board in the bottom of the third when Taryn Pena drove in Sowa for an early 1-0 lead.
"We had the chance to bounce back this evening from a poor performance this morning and it was a missed opportunity," Steele concluded. "I was disappointed in our energy and effort this game, even though we did a nice job keeping the game close."
Taylor Thorpe takes the loss and falls to 5-2 on the mound this season.
McCourt finished the day 4-for-7 at the plate, while Ragan added three hits and four RBI. Roberts added a 2-for-4 effort at the plate and O'Neal, Daniels, Baker, and Jones all tallied one hit each.
The Dolphins close out the 2017 Easton Crimson Classic tomorrow with a rematch with tournament hosts Alabama at 2:30 pm EST.
