PHOENIX – Kara Fusco brought home the winning run with a single in the bottom of the seventh and Colgate bounced back to defeat Pacific 3-2 on Sunday morning at the GCU Softball Stadium on the campus of Grand Canyon.
Less than 24 hours after being on the unfortunate end of a walk-off, Fusco and the Raiders returned the favor to end the weekend on a high note. Four of the five games this weekend at Grand Canyon were decided by one run.
Facing a 2-2 pitch with no outs in the home half of the seventh, Fusco struck a single into the gap and
Taylor Ludwick raced home as the winning run. Ludwick reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning and advanced to second base on a walk by
Adrienne Nardone.
Ludwick led the Raiders with two hits in the game. Fusco drove in a pair of runs to give her five RBIs on the weekend.
Morgan Farrah and
Elizabeth Nitka each recorded one hit.
Colgate opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the first. Ludwick scored
Jillian Herbst with a single up the middle and Fusco later lofted a sacrifice fly to bring home Farrah and stake the Raiders with an early 2-0 lead.
Bailey Misken tossed four scoreless frames before running into trouble in the fifth. She gave up a two-run homer to Rian Dirmeyer and was lifted after three straight singles loaded the bases with nobody out.
Kaitlyn Borruso, appearing in her fourth game of the weekend, captured three straight outs thanks to Herbst's throw from right field nailing the runner at home to keep the score tied at 2-2.
Borruso went on to earn the win with three scoreless innings of relief. She allowed just one hit and faced the minimum over three frames to improve to 4-1 on the season.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Marissa Lamison-Myers
"It was great to see the team bounce back after a tough one last night.
Kaitlyn Borruso did a phenomenal job in the circle. It was nice to see our bats come back to life as well. We are now looking forward to some time off before heading to North Alabama in two weeks."
UP NEXT
Colgate (8-7) has a short hiatus before kicking off spring break Sunday, March 13, with a doubleheader at North Alabama. Game times are 1 and 3 p.m.
