New England Box Score | Ripon Box Score
Clermont, FL — Messiah rebounded from consecutive one-run losses against Shenandoah University with solid victories in Florida Monday, opening the team's six-game, spring-break Florida road trip in dominating fashion.
The Falcons dispatched New England College by an 11-4 score and Ripon College by an 11-0 blasting at the National Training Center's Legends Way Ballpark, improving its record on the season to 5-2 and erasing the bitter taste of rare defeat.
"It was definitely important to rebound from the two losses last week in Virginia," said Amy Weaver, Messiah head coach. "We talked a lot about the mistakes. The girls hit well but they didn't perform defensively and things just fell apart on the field in those two games. We needed to come back and show that we can still win, and we did."
Against New England College, junior Corinn Eby (1-1) pitched five solid innings, allowing just four hits and two earned runs. She collected her first victory of the season.
In the first inning, the Falcons loaded the bases on walks from sophomore Abi Buchler and junior Rebecca Stackhouse, and a hit-by-pitch to senior Abby Bergakker. Freshman Stephanie Schell cleared the bases with a triple, and later scored on a passed ball, granting the Falcons with a four-run lead.
Messiah (5-2) added another run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single from Buchler but New England (0-3) responded with its first two runs of the game in the third frame.
Thankfully, the Falcons exploded for four more runs in the fifth inning, all with two outs retired.
After Bergakker walked to begin the rally, Schell walloped her second triple of the game, driving in Bergakker for her fourth RBI of the game. Senior Lindsay Hall reached on an error by the shortstop, scoring Schell. Freshman MaryAnn Becker then hit the Falcons' third triple of the game, driving in Hall, and scored on sophomore Lauren Seneca's follow-up single.
"We had a great day hitting the ball," said Weaver. "Three triples is just fantastic. We just out-hit everybody today. Defensively we played pretty well, also."
Against Ripon (1-2), the Falcons again jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, coasting to the easy 11-0 victory. It was the team's second shutout of the season.
Buchler led off the game with a single, and the run scoring machine took off from there: Freshman Daniella Pusateri followed with a walk and sophomore Jacki Merkel loaded the bases with a bunt single. One batter later, Bergakker blasted a grand slam to spot starting sophomore pitcher Jessica Rhoads with a commanding 4-0 lead.
One run would have been enough for the sophomore sensation, however. Rhoads (3-1) hurled a complete-game shutout, allowing just two hits, and striking out 18 of the 23 batters she faced. Rhoads didn't walk a single batter and took a no-hitter into the final inning.
"Jess was fantastic today," said Weaver. "Ripon College is the tougher of the two colleges we faced today so we saved her for the second game and she delivered."
The Falcons tacked on three more runs in the fifth on three hits and an error.
In the top of the seventh, they scored four more times, highlighted by a two-run single by Schell, who collected three hits and three RBI.
Rhoads allowed her first hit of the night in the bottom of the seventh, as New England's Stephanie Rieuwpassa singled. The Pilgrims' Kylie Ainslie followed with a single and a passed ball put runners on second and third with no outs.
But in typical-Rhoades fashion, the hard-throwing righty buckled down to complete one of her best pitching performances of the season by striking out the side, all three hitters going down swinging.
Messiah will return to Legends Way tomorrow, facing another tandem of teams in single-game competition. The Falcons will be in action against SUNY-Geneseo at 9:30 a.m. and Westfield State College at 11:30 a.m.
