CARY, North Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore softball team fell in both games of their doubleheader Saturday (March 16) against the North Carolina Central University Eagles.
In game one, NC Central scored four runs in the first and third innings each to score all their runs. The Hawks would threaten to score in the fifth inning before the game ended on the run ahead rule. NCCU won the contest 8-0.
Sophomore Stephanie Huff (Montoursville, PA) led the fifth inning off with a single to right field and fellow sophomore Jordan Robinson (Gaithersburg, MD) would come in to pinch run. Junior Allison Gingrich (Landisburg, PA) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner over.
Senior Daeshia Jones (Teaneck, NJ) was the next batter and hit a long fly ball to the left field fence that caused the fielder to dive for the ball. She made the catch and Robinson appeared to tag from second base to get all the way home to score. However, the umpires ruled that Robinson left the base early and she was called out to end the contest.
Huff went 2-2 in the contest to lead Maryland Eastern Shore. The other Hawks with hits in the game were from Rachel Gingrich (Landisburg, PA), Allison Gingrich and Kiana Peterson (Willingboro, NJ).
The Hawks got a strong pitching performance in game two from Nasya Goodman (Willingboro, NJ). The sophomore pitched a complete game and gave up zero earned runs. She had three strikeouts and two walks during her outing.
Eastern Shore had two errors in the game which proved to be costly as they led to the six runs that the Eagles got in the contest. NC Central scored two runs in the second and four in the sixth to give them their six runs in their 6-1 win.
The Shore scored their lone run in the seventh inning with a two-out rally. It started when freshman Anissa Derifield (Woodbridge, VA) hit a single to left field. Senior Breana Florez (Houston, TX) followed that with a single through the right side. The next batter was Heidi Smith (Odenton, MD). The senior came through with a single to left field that brought Derifield home to score. The Hawks would groundout on their next at-bat to end the game.
Derifield led the Hawks at the plate in game two as she reached base each time up going 2-2 with a walk and a run scored. Smith, Florez and Allison Gingrich had the other hits for the Hawks in the contest.
Maryland Eastern Shore will continue their spring break road trip on Tuesday (March 19) at Savannah State with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.
