Jacksonville, Fla. – The Jacksonville softball team concluded the UNF/JU Classic on Sunday with two dominant victories against the Manhattan Jaspers.

Tatum McCool and Allison Bratek each reached base three times, and all five JU pitchers who played surrendered just six hits across the two games, leading the Dolphins to the two wins. Averi Harcus and Kailey Harrigan both contributed four RBIs in what turned out to be career days for both players.

"We wanted to shake things up and try to jump start us a little bit," said head coach Erica Ayers. "It seems to be working, even yesterday (it was). There's a lot of belief in all of us; that's what a team is. If someone is down, someone else steps up."

GAME ONE

The Jacksonville offense exploded, and the pitching threw a combined shutout to give JU a comfortable 9-0 victory in the first game against Manhattan. A six-run first inning, complemented by an extra run in the second and two runs off a homer in the fourth inning, caused the game to end via the run rule.

A first-inning burst started with a Kari Holzrichter single that scored Madison Bratek. Allison Bratek eventually scored after a hard-hit ball from Averi Harcus caused an error on the Jaspers shortstop. Freshman Dacie Watterson then singled with the bases loaded to bring home Holzrichter, and Kassidy Pointbriant hit a sacrifice fly to score Harcus. To round out the flurry of freshmen contributions, Jazz Jones ripped a single into left field and scored both Watterson and Lindsey Chadwick for the first RBIs of her career.

Harcus went on to hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning to score Allison Bratek and push the Dolphins lead up to 7-0. After a scoreless top half of the first from freshman Skylar Waggoner, Christa Pritchard (1-0) entered the circle for the Dolphins and was lights out for three innings to earn her first career win.

Two of the junior's three innings were 1-2-3 innings, and she struck out two batters, her first two K's of the season. Pritchard's three frames also brought her season ERA down to 2.10, the second lowest on the team behind Shelby Harpe's 0.89.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, with JU still up by seven, Allison Bratek took a four-pitch walk and stole second shortly after. After a pair of flyouts from the Dolphins, Harcus stepped to the plate and on the first pitch blasted a two-run shot over the left field fence to push JU's lead to a whopping 9-0 advantage.

Another freshman, Jordan White, stepped into the circle for the Dolphins in the top of the fifth inning for the first time in her young career. White subsequently struck out the first batter she faced and navigated a one-out single to preserve the JU shutout.

Seven different Dolphins reached base, and Averi Harcus's home run was the first of her career. Her four RBI are also a season-high for her in a single game, and her seven RBI on the season are already a career-best. Allison Bratek had her fourth multi-hit game of the season, and her three runs scored are tied for the most she's had in a game in 2024.

GAME TWO

The Dolphins again produced offensive fireworks, and shutdown pitching combined for Jacksonville's second dominant win of the day against the Jaspers.

Kailey Harrigan set the tone in game two with a career-high four RBI, in part thanks to her three-run blast in the second inning. Madison Bratek also had a multi-RBI day with two off of two sacrifice flies.

While the second inning is where JU exploded in game two, Harrigan got things started in the first inning after she hit a single down the third base line to score Allison Bratek. JU had two runners on, but that was all for the damage in the first frame.

What panned out to be a five-run second inning for JU started with a well-earned walk from Gabi Robles, who started the count down 1-2 and fought her way to the base on balls. Tatum McCool continued her hot Sunday with a double to right center, which scored the speedy Robles from first. Hallie Kern reached on an error, and Madison Bratek then hit a sacrifice fly after Kern stole second and advanced to third on a rundown at home. To cap it all off, Harrigan stepped to the plate and launched a first-pitch fastball down the left field line and over the fence for her first big shot of the year, which pushed JU to a 6-0 lead.

In the third inning, Madison Bratek recorded her second sacrifice fly in as many innings, scoring Robles from third, and extended the JU lead up to 7-0. In her second start of the season, freshman Reese Wells (1-0) was nothing short of dominant in four innings of work in the circle. The Winter Haven, Florida native struck out three batters and allowed just two base runners en route to the first win of her career.

Ashlee Harwood came on in relief in the fifth inning. While navigating a pair of baserunners, she struck out three batters for the three outs to preserve the second shutout of the afternoon for JU.

"The conversation offensively started yesterday," said Ayers on what was said before her side put up 17 runs in one day. "Just keeping things simple, not overthinking and focus on what we do well, and less about what the other team is doing."

UP NEXT

The Dolphins return to action next weekend for a three-game series in Tallahassee against Florida A&M. The first of two on Saturday, March 2, is slated for a 2 pm first pitch, with game three coming on Sunday the third.