PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- The Lake Erie softball team hosted the Ursuline College Arrows today for another Great Midwest doubleheader at Kiwanis Recreation Park. The Storm would claim their first win of the season by splitting with the Arrows and winning game two in dramatic fashion.
GAME 1
URSULINE - 6
LAKE ERIE - 3
With the Arrows in town for their third G-MAC series of the season, the Storm were looking to grab their first wins and stay competitive in the conference.
Lake Erie took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning courtesy of a
CJ Garcia home run to left center; her first of the season. In the bottom of the second, she showed off her strength once again when she drove in
Maddie Pawlak on an RBI double to the right center field fence, extending the Storm lead to 2-0.
After a scoreless third, the Arrows notched out a run to cut the lead in half and took a 3-2 lead in the fifth. In the bottom half of the inning, Garcia came up big once again and began the inning with a double to left center field.
Lily Turkowski advanced her to third on a single and
Jasmine Gonzales drove her in on a sac fly, tying the game at 3-3.
Unfortunately, the Arrows put up three runs in the top of the seventh and the Storm fell 6-3.
Garcia finished the game going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Turkowski also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4, and Gonzales,
Kai Mortensen, and Pawlak each accounted for the remaining hits.
WP: M. Searles (2-7)
LP: Addison Nugent (0-9)
GAME 2
URSULINE - 1
LAKE ERIE - 2
9 Innings
The Storm leaned on their pitching in game two, starting
Kai Mortensen in the circle who showed incredible tenacity during her start and delivered a "bend, don't break" performance.
The Arrows managed to take an early 1-0 lead in the second but Mortensen held them to just that. In the bottom of the sixth, still down 1-0,
CJ Garcia rocked a double to right center, giving the Storm hope. After she was moved over to third, the Storm caught a break when the Arrows shortstop committed an error and scored Garcia, tying up the game at one.
Mortensen came out in the seventh, surrendered just a single and gave the Storm offense momentum going into the bottom of the final inning of regulation.
Emma Spahr kicked off the bottom half with a single to left field but on the next at bat, Mortensen laid down a sac bunt while Spahr took off. As the Arrows were throwing her out at first, Spahr took off for third and was narrowly thrown out, eliminating the scoring threat. However,
Madi Eckert quickly got into scoring position during her at bat with a bloop double to right field. Although she advanced to third on a wild pitch during the next at bat, Lake Erie was unable to drive her home and the game would go into extras.
Mortensen allowed no runs in the eighth but in the ninth she got into a little bit of trouble, allowing runners to reach second and third with just one out. Mortensen buckled down, drawing a soft pop fly to second base and closing out the inning with a fly out to left.
In the bottom of the inning, the Storm offense had enough. Turkowski kicked things off with a single to left center field and was pinch ran for by
Faith Thompson. Thompson advanced to second on a sac bunt by
Jasmine Gonzales and Spahr walked-off the Arrows with a double to right field, scoring Thompson for the win.
Mortensen went nine complete innings, allowing just one run, striking out three and walking zero.
Garcia had another multi-hit game, going 2-for-4. Gonzales and Spahr each went 2-for-3 and Turkowski and Eckert each had the remaining hits.
WP: Kai Mortensen (1-9)
LP: K. Wack (1-6)
Looking Ahead
Lake Erie will look to carry today's walk-off win momentum into Sunday, March 30th when they travel to North Canton to face the Walsh University Cavaliers in a doubleheader. The games will begin at 12:30 p.m.
