Late Innings Doom Trojans Against Cougars

April 11, 2009

The Taylor University softball team dropped two games in heartbreaking fashion to Spring Arbor University Saturday. The pair of losses drops Taylor's record to 13-17 and 3-7 in the Mid-Central College Conference while Spring Arbor improves its record to 17-13 (8-2, MCC).

The two teams played catch early on in game one until the Cougars took control in the third inning. Highlighted by Jenna Titler's three-run home run, Spring Arbor tallied five runs on four hits and a Trojan error. SAU added another run in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.

The Taylor faithful put on the rally caps in the fifth inning as three consecutive Trojans connected on extra-base hits leading to four runs. Momentum swung with two outs as a pair of Trojan runners reached base on an error and a walk. Freshman Laura Strode capitalized on the opportunity with a double that scored two runs. Liz Lewellen and Lindsey Arnold followed Strode's lead with RBI doubles of their own.

Unfortunately, the Trojans connected on just two more hits in the game and left their only two base runners stranded. Spring Arbor walked away with the 6-4 victory.

Senior Jill Tomaszewski took the loss allowing six runs on seven hits in four innings of work.

It looked as though the Trojans had game two in hand until a seventh-inning bomb to center field changed the tide.

Taylor posted a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning off of four hits that gave run support to the dominating Jessica Fankhauser. The junior pitcher commanded the plate allowing just three hits through six innings. However, the three runners left on base in the fourth proved costly later in the game.

It was Abby Adams' two-run home run in the seventh inning for the Cougars that knotted the score at two runs a-piece and altered the storyline for Fankhauser. Taylor escaped the inning with no more damage, but the turn of events was too devastating.

The Trojans left three more runners on base in the eighth, totaling nine for the game, while Spring Arbor created separation with four runs on three hits in the ninth. With little life left in the tank, Taylor fell by a final score of 6-2 in nine innings.

The Trojans are back in action on Wednesday when they play host to Indiana Wesleyan University for a 3 p.m. doubleheader.