CLERMONT, Fla. – The Union College softball team got its 2019 season underway on Saturday at the NTC Spring Games, splitting two contests against the University of Minnesota-Morris and Rutgers University-Newark at the Legends Way Fields.
Three players had a team-leading two hits on the day, including freshman
Julia Boule, who matched classmate
Julissa Malana with two runs batted in to start their collegiate careers. Sophomores
Stuart Buxton and
Makayla Koehler scored a team-best two runs each as well.
Game One: Union 7, Minnesota Morris 4
Union started its 2019 season with a win, as Boule went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in her collegiate debut while Malana and junior
Bailey Kross both drove in a pair as well in a 7-4 win.
It didn't take long for the Dutchwomen to get on the board, as Boule delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first to put Union on top.
Minnesota scored twice in the second and once in the fourth to take back the lead, but Union came back with five runs in the bottom of the fifth to take back the lead for good. Junior
Kayla Fisher tied the score with a sacrifice fly and Kross followed with a two-run single, and Malana added some insurance with a two-run double later in the inning.
Sophomore
Catie Raeter picked up the win in relief, allowing one run on three hits in 3.1 innings after coming in for senior
Dana Dolinko, who conceded two earned runs on six hits in 3.2 innings.
Game Two: Rutgers-Newark 8, Union 1
The second game started well for the Dutchwomen, but Rutgers-Newark scored the final eight runs of the game to deal Union an 8-1 loss.
Union got on the board quickly in the top of the first, as Buxton led off with a triple and came home on a one-out single by Koehler to take a quick 1-0 lead. However, the Dutchwomen managed just one hit the rest of the way.
Three Rutgers runs in the bottom of the second put the Scarlet Raiders on top for the first time, followed by two in the fifth and three more in the sixth against Koehler and Raeter. Koehler suffered the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits in 5.2 innings.
The Dutchwomen will be back in action tomorrow morning, taking on Elmhurst College and the University of Chicago in Clermont.