FORT MYERS, Fla. – The RIT softball team split a pair of high-scoring games on the third day of action at the Gene Cusic Classic, Tuesday, moving past New Jersey City, 13-1 (5 inn.), before falling late in an 11-10 setback to Rockford.
GAME 1 – RIT 13, NJCU 3 (5 inn.)
- First-year Chloe McManus went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI while first-year Maddy Cook and junior Alexis Smith each scored two runs and knocked in two RBI to lead RIT to the 10-run victory in Tuesday's opener.
- RIT built a 9-3 lead by plating three runs in each of the first three innings. Eight of the runs were scored with two outs over the course of the opening three innings.
- RIT put the game out of reach with four more runs in the top of the fifth, including RBI hits by McManus, first-year Erin Ozminkowski, and back-to-back RBI ground-outs by senior Haley Czerwinski and first-year Bailey Kehl.
- First-year Crystal Madore earned her first victory in a Tiger uniform, holding NJCU to an earned run on six hits while striking out two batters in five innings of work.
GAME 2 – ROCKFORD 11, RIT 10
- RIT senior Hannah Trumble finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and scored four runs while McManus was 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI in a game which featured six lead changes.
- Trumble led off the game with a triple and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by first-year Kylie Aquaro.
- Rockford answered with four runs on five hits in the bottom of the inning before the Tigers plated three in the second to re-tie the game. First-year Lillian Rienstra plated two runs with a triple, before Trumble brought Rienstra home with an RBI hit.
- RIT forged a 6-4 lead with two runs in the third on a sacrifice fly by Czerwinski and an RBI single by sophomore Elise Guth.
- Rockford scored three times in the bottom of the third for a 7-6 lead before McManus brought home a run in the top of the fourth to tie the game, 7-7.
- Rockford scored twice in the bottom of the fourth, but the Tigers plated two in the top of the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles by Aquaro and Cook to re-tie the game, 9-9.
- McManus brought home Trumble with a go-ahead single in the top of the seventh, but Rockford brought two across in the bottom half of the inning to seal the win.
WHAT'S NEXT
After a day off Wednesday, RIT takes on Immaculata (9:00 a.m.) and Western Connecticut (11:00 a.m) on Thursday (Mar. 10) in Fort Meyers.