ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — It had been over two weeks since the Flagler College softball team had played before
Kyra Gipson (W, 5-2) tossed the first pitch at Flagler Field Wednesday afternoon.
The senior righty paced the Saints to an opening, 6-1, victory, and then visiting Hillsdale College edged out the second game, 6-4, for the mid-week split in sunny St. Augustine, Florida. The two teams will be back in action for a single game at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Behind Gipson's complete game where she struck out seven and allowed one run on five hits, Flagler (6-7) combined for eight hits and 10 free bases.
Bella Munoz, who had two walks along with
Kyleigh Taylor, got the scoring started in the two-run second as
Paige Maseda scored via the RBI-single, and then
NaJah Gerrald crossed home plate thanks to a passed ball that moved everyone on the bags.
Maseda and
Mackenzie Smith each had two hits apiece as the sophomore Maseda batted in three runs, with one coming in the third to score Munoz and the other two in the sixth. Smith also had a RBI when she scored Munoz in the sixth frame before Maseda batted in Smith herself and
Morgan Murphy to cap the six-run first game versus starter Camryn Olson (L, 0-1) and reliever Julia Sayles.
Valerie Beltre and
Brandy Barquin also recorded a hit and walk apiece in the win.
In the second game, the Chargers (11-10) flipped the script by getting on the board first, but then Flagler knocked back-to-back home runs off starter Erin Kapteyn (W, 3-1) to knot it at 2-all in the second.
Murphy hit the first dinger for the Saints in the bottom of the first inning as
Alyssa Velez followed with a solo shot in the next frame. Unfortunately for the Saints, the next inning doomed them as an error started the inning and three runs proceeded after that. Starter
Madelyn Wise (L, 1-3) faced three batters in the third inning before head coach
Kathryn Geouge turned to
Taylor Scott with zero outs. In relief, Scott allowed one run on four hits while striking out four.
In the bottom half of the third, the Saints loaded the bases but were unable to knock away at the Charger lead. In the fourth, Munoz singled in
Mercedes Salinas after she had a pinch-hit walk for her first at-bat as a Saint, and then Velez reached on an error to plate Taylor. However, those were the final runs Flagler would see as Taylor kept the Chargers at bay, minus one run in the fifth. Joining Murphy and Velez with hits were Beltre, Taylor while Munoz and Gerrald each had two apiece.
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