OSCEOLA, FLA (3/11/06) – The Colgate University softball team (3-2) opened play in the Rebel Games Saturday at the Osceola Sports Complex in Florida, splitting a pair of contests.  In the opener, Colgate rallied for a 3-2 win over Fairleigh Dickinson, before dropping a tough 3-1 decision to Maine in the second game.

 

In the opener, Fairleigh Dickinson jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, when pinch runner Erin Mills scored an unearned run.  The Knights increased their lead to 2-0 in the next inning with another unearned run when a single by Hope Hilman skipped by the Colgate right fielder, rolling all the way to the wall, allowing her to come all the way around to score.

 

Colgate tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning.  Ashley Rowe (Tampa, Fla.) led off the frame with a double to centerfield, and came home on Whitney Scott’s (Beaverton, OR) double to left center.  After moving to third, Scott scored while FDU was turning a double play.

 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, LaPorscha Albert (Lewisville, TX) single up the middle, and came home with the winning run on Kim Olmstead’s (Spring Hill, Fla.) double to right center.

 

Senior Kate Howard (Wheaton, IL) was the winning pitcher for the Raiders.  She carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before yielding her first hit with two outs.  Howard (2-1) allowed three hits while striking out seven and walking one.  With the victory she moved into a tied for fourth place for career wins with the Raiders with 36, and moved into a tied for third place in career strikeouts with 264.

In the nightcap, Colgate’s junior right-hander Kelsey Nordstrom (Salina, KS) and Maine’s Jenna Balent were hooked up in a pitcher’s dual.

 

Colgate broke on top first in the fourth inning for a 1-0 lead.  Kortney Hannah (Vacaville, CA) tripled down the left field line, and came home on Rowe’s single o right center.

 

The Black Bears came back with three runs in the sixth inning with the winning runs coming on a two-run inside the park home run by Brit Cheney.  Colgate came back in the seventh inning to load the bases with two outs, before Rowe’s line drive to center field was caught by a diving, shoestring catch by Dana Grimm to end the game.

 

Nordstrom (1-1) worked five and one-third innings, allowing two hits, while striking out one and walking two.  Rowe came in and got the final two outs.

 

GAME NOTES: Freshman catcher Megan Mylan (Upper Montclair, NJ) suffered a sprained ankle in a home plate collision in the FDU game … Rowe was 3-for-7 on the day with one double and one RBI … Scott was 3-for-5, while Olmstead was 2-for-6.