Trojans Fall in Series Finale

Sunday, April 3

Miami, FL

12 noon

Troy University

Florida International University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

4/3/2011 1:05:41 PM | Softball

Box Score

TROY hits the road for a mid-week conference game against South Alabama Wednesday

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

MIAMI (TroyTrojans.com) – The Troy University softball team fell to FIU 7-2 in Sun Belt Conference action on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at the FIU Softball Complex, dropping the series to the Golden Panthers.

Michelle Hewett led TROY at the plate as she went 2-for-3, the only Trojan to get multiple hits in the contest. Meanwhile, Morgan Grove (7-4) suffered the loss, going 3 2/3 innings allowing six runs off of 13 hits. Junior Haley Hutchins came out of the bullpen, allowing one run off of one hit in 2 1/3 innings of work.

Ashley McClain and Kalya Burri led FIU with three hits each, pacing the 14-hit attack on Sunday. Jenn Gniadek (9-8) picked up the complete game victory, allowing just two runs off of seven hits.

The Trojans return to action on Wednesday on the road in Sun Belt Conference play, as they travel to Mobile for a single game against the University of South Alabama.

FIU (21-16, 7-2 Sun Belt) jumped ahead in the bottom of the first inning after TROY (21-18, 2-7 Sun Belt) was unable to capitalize, scoring a pair of runs with one out in the inning to grab the lead on TROY. Peller singled to center and moved around to third as Ashley McClain connected on a double to the left centerfield gap between Hewett and Sarah Harris. The Golden Panthers scored the first run of the contest as Brie Rojas singled through the right side, followed by an RBI single from Kayla Burri to grab the 2-0 lead after just one inning of play.

The Trojans answered back in the top of the second as they trimmed the lead in half with a pair of singles. Hewett led off the inning with a two-strike single through the left side, before stealing second two pitches later. The junior centerfielder was sacrificed to third off the bunt from Harris, before scoring on a Sarah Shields single over the head of Jessy Alfonso at third; trimming the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the second inning. The Trojans loaded the bases with two outs in the inning, but were unable to get another run across a Taylor Smartt ball hit up the middle was snared by FIU starting pitcher Jen Gniadek to end the inning.

The Golden Panthers pushed the lead back to a pair in the bottom of the second inning on a two-out single by Rojas. The sophomore second baseman drove home Alfonso, who singled to left with one out in the inning and moved to third on a McClain single. The lead was pushed to 4-2 with two outs in the inning when Burri laced a double down the left line past a diving Kelly Luquette at third – putting runners at second and third with two outs; but the Trojans were able to get out of the inning when Jenny Welch harmlessly grounded out to Grove.

The Trojans continued to answer each scoring output from FIU, getting on the board again in the top of the third inning when Nikki Hollett led off the inning with a walk before advancing to second on a bloop single to left off the bat of Hayden Gann. The duo advanced to second and third, and the bases became loaded when Hewett reached on a fielding error by Burri at short. Harris put the Trojans on the board as she singled up the middle that scored Hollett, however, Gann was thrown out at the plate by centerfielder Beth Peller. The Trojans second mistake on the base paths came when Harris collided with Burri for the second out, sending Hewett back to third who had scored on the play.

FIU tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Peller drove a ball down the leftfield line over the head of Luquette at third. The ball found the corner in left and was mishandled by Kacie McAllister, allowing Peller to come all the way around to score. The run gave the Golden Panthers a 5-2 lead with no one out in the fourth. The inning continued as Burri was able to score on a double by Welch and the second outfield error of the inning for the Trojans, pushing the lead to 6-2.

The Golden Panthers added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning after Peller drew a lead-off walk before stealing second. She scored on a bloop single to left as the ball got the past the Trojan outfielder, allowing McClain to reach second base.

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