CLERMONT, Fla. – Lewis' softball team dropped a pair of tight ball games on Tuesday in Clermont, Fla. The Flyers dropped their opener to No. 24 Wayne State, 5-4 and the nightcap to Shepherd, 4-2 in eight innings. Lewis falls to 5-11 on the season.
Game 1 – No. 24 Wayne State 5 Lewis 4
The Flyers sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the first scoring four runs on five hits. Lewis' first four batters reached safely as it lead 3-0 just four batters in.
Morgan Weber (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) led off with a walk and went to second on
Maddy Beck's (Racine, Wis./Case) single to right. Both runners advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Cierra Taylor (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) drove in Weber with the first run with a single through the right side of the infield.
Beck stole home as part of a double steal and Taylor went all the way to third on the play and scored on
Cassie Shaw's (Moline, Ill./Moline) single down the left field line.
Lauren Brennan (Cantonment, Fla./J.M. Tate) drove in the fourth run of the inning with a double to left center to score
Kristin Kavalauskas (Oak Forest, Ill./Tinley Park). The Flyers loaded the bases with one out but couldn't add any more runs.
The Warriors (12-3) got a run in the second on a passed ball, two more in the third and took the lead with two runs in the fourth.
Lewis had six hits in the contest with Taylor recording a pair of hits while Taylor, Shaw and Brennan each had RBIs.
Cassie Shaw (Moline, Ill./Moline) threw a complete game allowing five runs, three earned, on nine hits with three strikeouts to take the loss.
Game 2 Shepherd 4 Lewis 2 8 innings
In the nightcap, the Rams (4-3) scored an unearned run in the second to take the early lead. The Flyers tied the game in the fifth. Brennan led off the inning with a double, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Weber's single to right. Lewis had a chance to take the lead but Beck into an inning ending double play.
Neither side scored in the sixth or seventh though both chances. Shepherd broke the deadlock scoring three times in its half of the eighth. Rachel Taylor had the big blow in the inning single to right to drive in two runs to make it 4-1.
The Flyers got a run back in the home half of the eighth on an RBI single from Taylor but Shaw and Kavalauskas both popped up to second to end the game.
Lewis outhit the Rams 6-5 in the game with Taylor recording two of them. Shaw pitched the final two innings in relief of
Sara Serena (Kankakee, Ill./Kankakee) allowing three runs, two earned, on two hits and struck out to suffer the defeat.
The Flyers conclude their Florida trip on Wednesday taking on Post at 8 a.m. (CT) and Salem at 10:15 a.m. (CT).
