DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Flagler College softball team followed up a slow start with a red-hot finish as the Saints split a midweek doubleheader at No. 21 Embry-Riddle Tuesday night. The Eagles won the first 4-2, while the second ended in Flagler's favor, 7-2.
The Saints (25-20) now come home for their final regular-season three-game Peach Belt Conference series with USC Aiken, beginning with a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. on Flagler Field. The team will celebrate Senior Day before Sunday's noon single game.
In game one, Flagler had two of its three hits come in the seventh inning when the Saints faced a four-run deficit. The squad posted two runs thanks to an
Alyssa Velez fielder's choice ball, scoring
Paige Maseda, who led off the inning with a single, and then
Kyleigh Taylor chiming in with a single of her own.
But, the two runs were all the Saints would see after
Rachel Hester (L, 11-9) surrendered three in the first inning and one more in the second. Merecedes Salinas was the other Saint with a hit.
In game two, the visiting team bounced back in a big way led by the bat of Velez. The senior went 4-for-4 at the plate — with two runs scored and an RBI — as she gave the Saints a lead in the third the Eagles would tie but never take.
Madelyn Childs was responsible for doubling in the game-winning run, scoring
Courtney Robinson who started the fifth with a single, and beginning a three-run fifth inning. Childs scored on a Taylor sac fly; meanwhile,
Olivia Parker singled in Velez after yet another single from the senior shortstop.
Embry-Riddle (23-12) responded with a run in the bottom half of the fifth, but it was the lone other run
Madelyn Wise (W, 9-5) would allow in her second straight complete-game performance. The junior tossed seven innings, while limiting the Eagles to two runs on four hits and striking out six.
The Saints tacked on three more runs in the top of the seventh as three walks and a hit-by-pitch followed Velez's fourth single to load the bases, allowing the away team to reap the benefits with insurance runs.
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