The Eagles continued their home series against the Hawaii Pacific Sharks on Friday, taking on the strong hitting team in a doubleheader for the second consecutive day. After dropping game two yesterday, the Eagles were looking to bounce back on Friday, and that's just what they did.
Game One: For the second consecutive day,
Callie Nunes shined in the circle for the Eagles. After giving up just one run on one hit on Thursday, she was brilliant again Friday afternoon.
The Sharks were aggressive offensively, looking to jump on pitches early in the count and wreak havoc on the bases, using their excellent team speed. Despite sloppy defense for the Eagles, Nunes was able to work out of the early innings unscathed.
Emilee Leonard was called to pitch for the Sharks for the second consecutive day, looking to build off her dominant game two performance last night. Through 3.5 innings, Nunes and Leonard matched pitches, shutting down both offenses.
In the fourth, the Eagles finally got on the board.
Mackenzie Graham led off the inning with an opposite field double to right, and two batters later,
Sarah Kretschmar smoked a double to the right-center gap and the Eagles took a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth, they extended their lead. With one out,
Sydney Sprinkle turned on a ball, smacking it over the wall for a home run. It was her second homer in as many days. The big fly gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
One inning later, they added two more.
Michelle Lieng led off the inning with a double and stole third. She was then brought in on a sac fly by Kretschmar to push the Eagles lead to three. The Eagles added another after
Heather Nonora and
Megan Massa each walked and
Amanda Gjertsen brought home the lead run on a single to right. At the end of six, the Eagles led 4-0.
In the seventh, Nunes retired the Sharks in order to give the Eagles the 4-0 win.
Eagle Eye: Nunes threw another shutout, giving up just two hits. It was her 12
th win and sixth shutout of the season. Kretschmar finished two-for-two at the plate with two RBI's.
Game Two: In game two, both starting pitchers were coming off losses the day prior, and for the Eagles,
Erika Morris bounced back with a strong performance.
After Morris retired the Sharks in order in the first, striking out two, the Eagles came to the dish in the bottom half of the inning and quickly gave Morris a lead to work with. With one out,
Amanda Gjertsen reached on an infield single,
Sydney Sprinkle added a single of her own, and
Michelle Lieng brought in Gjertsen with an infield hit.
Morris continued to cruise over the first four innings, giving up just one run in the third on a solo home run by Cieana Curran.
In the bottom half of the third, the Eagles came right back with two more runs. With Gjertsen on second following a one out double,
Mackenzie Graham hit a two run home run to center to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
While Morris was superb over the first four innings, the Sharks' bats came alive in the fifth. The Sharks scored two runs on two hits and a walk and the game was again tied. Morris exited after five solid innings, giving up three runs on five hits, while striking out a career high eight hitters.
In the fifth inning, Nunes entered the game out of the bullpen for the Eagles. The game remained scoreless until the top of the seventh when the Sharks put together a rally. After two consecutive singles to begin the inning, runners were on first and third with no outs. The Sharks were able to get one across the plate with a well-executed squeeze play, and though the Eagles were able to get out of the inning by taking advantage of overaggressive baserunning by HPU, they trailed 4-3 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
In the final frame, the Eagles went down in order, splitting their doubleheader with HPU for the second consecutive day.
Eagle Eye: Gjertsen finished two-for-four at the plate with one run scored.
Mackenzie Graham finished one-for-three with two RBI's and a run scored.
What's Next: The Eagles return home on Sunday, taking on Stanislaus State at 11 AM and 1 PM.
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