PRESCOTT, Ariz. – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Ariz.) softball finally got to play on their own field Saturday when they took on University of Saint Katherine in a pair of games that could not have been any more different than they were as they split the doubleheader, 5-4 and 9-5.
Early on there was nothing that Carly Carlsen (JR/Littleton, Colo.) could do wrong in the circle as she allowed only two runners to reach in her first three innings of work. Unlike USK (9-22), ERAU (4-14) had traffic on the base paths from the get go but could not bring anyone in. Both pitchers had shutouts going into the sixth, and Carlsen had only given up two hits through five.
A pair of singles by the Firebirds started the top half of the sixth, after a pair of quick outs, Carlsen almost got out of the inning unscathed but a bloop infield single got the first run across. The next hitter would then double in the right center gap scoring both in front of her. Riddle would answer in their half though. A pair of singles by Zoe Streadbeck (SO/Ewa Beach, Hawaii) and Mikaeli Davidson (FR/Tempe, Ariz.) would set up Carlsen to help herself out. She would drive a ball into the right-center gap and dive into third base with a two RBI triple.
In the top half of the seventh, USK scratched another one across and had the game right where they wanted it. Two lucky bounces came the Eagles way in the bottom half and got the tying run to first with only one out. Haley Basye (SO/Tucson, Ariz.) lined a ball back up the middle and loaded the bases for Davidson. After seeing a pitch, she roped a ball into the right center gap scoring all three runners and walking off the Firebirds, 5-4.
Game two was quite different, as the Eagles got on the board in the first inning on a Basye RBI ground out. That would be it for the Eagles for a while though as the Firebirds unloaded seven unanswered runs combined in the second and third innings. Danielle Jamieson (FR/Tucson, Ariz.) bandaged the bleeding with an RBI line drive double in the right center gap in the fourth.
After two more Firebird runs in the fifth the Eagles were in quite the hole. ERAU would make it interesting as they found a way to manufacture three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Streadbeck got one back with an RBI ground out to the shortstop. Next, Basye lined one to shallow center to get the second of the inning, followed by another Davidson shot to the wall which scored the third. ERAU and USK would both go quietly into the final two innings as the Firebirds won, 9-5.
Basye was seeing the ball really well today as even her outs were loud, going 5-8 with two RBI. Davidson may not have had her best day in the circle but was clutch in the box knocking in four runs with three hits.
ERAU is right back at it on Sunday (3/24) when they run it back against the Firebirds with the first pitch slated for noon MST in Prescott.
