No. 17 Spartans Sweep Season Opener
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The No. 17 University of
Tampa (2-0) softball team swept a pair of games against Southwest
Baptist (0-1) and Lindenwood (0-2) on Friday to open the season at
the Eckerd College Tournament.
Jennie Sittloh started the season opener for the Spartans against
Southwest Baptist and earned her first victory of the season. She
tossed 7.0 innings with three strikeouts while allowing one
run.
Kandi Kuder opened the game with a single and advanced to second on
a sacrifice bunt by Sahrina Cortes. Following two wild pitches in
the inning Kuder came around to give Tampa a 1-0 lead.
Southwest Baptist evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the
first as Caitlyn Cooner plated Rachel Ray on an RBI single.
Lindsay Dring began the top of the fourth with a double. She came
around to score on a Bearcats fielding error to reclaim the lead
for the Spartans.
Tampa extended the lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth as Jenna
Halper plated Sittloh giving the Spartans an insurance run.
UT added two runs in the seventh and took the season opener by a
final score of 5-1. Bre Setree started a two out rally in the
inning and later scored on a two RBI double by Sittloh.
The Spartans tallied 11 hits in the game as Meagan Burke, Setree,
Sittloh, and Dring had a team-high two each.
Senior Julia Morrow took the circle in game two and tossed 7.0
shutout innings with 11 strikeouts. She allowed three hits to earn
her first victory of the year.
UT took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by
Setree to plate Kuder.
The Spartan offense erupted for a three run third to extend its
advantage to 4-0. Burke roped an RBI single into left that scored
Sahrina Cortes. Setree and Sittloh followed with RBI base hits to
extend the lead.
Burke and Sittloh each blasted solo homeruns over the left field
fence in the bottom of the fifth extending the Tampa lead to
6-0.
Morrow and the UT defense limited Lindenwood from scoring in the
final two innings for the shutout victory.
The Spartans will return to play at the Eckerd College Spring
Invitational on Saturday afternoon against Chadron State at 1:30
p.m. Live stats will be available at
www.tampa.statbroadcast.com.
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