PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore endured a tough defeat on Sunday (April 10) in game one of their doubleheader with the Coppin State University Eagles, but the Hawks battled back in the second game to get a victory and win their weekend series with the Eagles.
Coppin State used an extraordinary final inning in game one to win 21-10, before Eastern Shore would win game two 8-5 after rallying back from two runs down.
"Today was a testament to the team we have and that we keep fighting," head coach Karla Ross said. "We have been hitting (well) all year, so we weren't worried about that. We have just been having one bad inning here and there, so we knew we had to lock that up."
In game one, sophomore Tatum Kresley scored the opening run of the game in the first off an error by CSU. After the Eagles tied the game at one in the top of the second, freshman Rebecca Miller scored a run off another miscue by Coppin State to put the Hawks ahead 2-1.
One inning later, sophomore Ryan Merriwether hit an RBI single to score junior Tyanna Roberts. A single from Miller got Merriwether to third and she would be brought across home plate after freshman McKenzie Abiley singled to left field.
Roberts scored again in the fourth off a double by sophomore Julia Garcia. That run put the team ahead 5-1 after four innings of play. The two teams would each score five runs in the fifth inning.
After the five runs by CSU, sophomore Ah-Nayia Oglesby hit a two-out double to bring Abiley and graduate student Kaylyn Sterling in to score and put the team ahead 7-6. Two batters later, Roberts doubled to left field to score Oglesby and Kresley. Garcia followed that with a double of her own to score Roberts and put the team up 10-6. The Eagles got one run back in the sixth to make the score 10-7 and set up the fateful final frame.
In the top of the seventh, Coppin State had 19 people come up to bat and Maryland Eastern Shore used four different pitchers. By the time the top of the frame was done, 30 minutes had passed and the Eagles had scored 14 runs to go up 21-10. The contest would end with that score.
Roberts went 3-4 with three runs and two RBI in game one. Oglesby and Garcia each had two RBI as well.
After playing an over three-hour contest in game one, the Hawks limped into the second game of the day. Already without the services of junior Saje Kurpiela and freshman Nola Mountain, Miller and sophomore Ameenah Ballenger were ruled out of game two due to injuries sustained in game one. That led to major defensive changes for the Hawks.
"We had to move our first basemen Ryan (Merriwether) to right field and Tee (Roberts) from designated player to second base, so we just told the girls to play pitch by pitch," Ross said. "We give a big props to Tatum (Kresley) because we've had her pitch in the bullpen during the week then she came in and got ground balls and outs for us."
Kresley, who usually starts in center field for the team, threw a complete game inside the circle in game two. She struck out two batters and allowed just three earned runs to get her first win of the season, but that would not be the most noteworthy thing for her in the contest.
As they did in game one, Eastern Shore scored the first run of the game in the first inning. Sophomore Kelsie Ekstrom hit her first triple of the season to score Garcia from first. The Eagles would score one run in the second and third to go ahead 2-1.
In the bottom of the third, Abiley singled to left field to score Ekstrom and Garcia. Coppin State tied the game at three in the top of the fourth and got two more runs in the top of the fifth to hold a 5-3 advantage.
The Shore used the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead. Merriwether, Abiley and graduate student Nasya Goodman hit three straight singles to close the gap to 5-4. Sterling then reached on a fielder's choice to shortstop and that allowed Abiley to score and the game was tied.
Oglesby laid down a bunt single after that to bring Kresley into the batter's box. She would crush a hit to the left field fence to score Sterling and Oglesby, but get thrown out trying to turn the hit into a triple. That play made the score 7-5 as the fifth inning ended.
Kresley's hit in the fifth inning was her 59th of the season, which is now a school record. She broke the mark of Hawks Hall of Famer Robin Pettit from the 1996 season.
"Tatum is a special player and as someone who has been around the game my whole life and was a Power Five player, she is a Power Five type player," Ross said. "She is a baller. She doesn't take a pitch or a day off and now she isn't just bunting or slapping, she is swinging away and line driving everything."
After setting the record, Kresley pitched two scoreless innings and allowed just one base runner for the remainder of the game. Ekstrom would hit a sacrifice fly to score Roberts in the sixth to add an insurance run as the Hawks secured the victory.
Kresley went 3-3 with a walk and two RBI in the contest. Abiley and Ekstrom each went 2-3 with a run scored and two RBI.
Maryland Eastern Shore will play their next 10 games on the road. The first two of those will come on Tuesday (April 12) when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Drexel for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.
