Softball Downed By Oklahoma, Texas on First Day of Elite Invitational

Friday, February 15

Clearwater, Fla.

10 AM

Florida Atlantic

No. 3 Oklahoma

Softball Downed By Oklahoma, Texas on First Day of Elite Invitational

2/15/2019 4:24:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Box Score Game 1 vs. No. 3 Oklahoma
Box Score Game 2 vs. No. 11/12 Texas

CLEARWATER, Fla. – (Feb. 15, 2019) – The Florida Atlantic University softball team (3-4) dropped its first two games at the inaugural St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational. The Owls first fell to Oklahoma 4-0, as Mariah Lopez tossed a no-hitter against the Owls. In the second game, Texas got off to a hot start and carried out a 5-1 victory.

Quotable
"Pitching was pretty solid like last weekend," said Head Coach Joan Joyce. "We gave up a couple of homeruns, but the competition was high. Other than that, I thought we played pretty solid and defense was pretty good, but the offense is still not there. Hopefully the couple of hits and a run against Texas is a sure sign we will be able to come out tomorrow and hit the ball."

Game 1
Key Plays
OU jumped out on front in the bottom of the first with a 3-0 lead off of Falepolima Aviu's RBI single, a sacrifice fly by Shay Knighten and a wild pitch. In the bottom of the third inning, Kara Lokeinsky took over in the circle for Mia Olson and Jolie Duffner came up with an athletic catch to draw a double play, followed by a tag on the third baseman to retire the inning. OU would score another run in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI double by Jocelyn Alo, who had three hits in the contest, and would later elevate to a 4-0 victory. Lopez's no-hitter against the Owls marked the second of her career.

Notables

OU's four runs in the contest marks the least amount of runs the Sooners have scored against an opponent this season
FAU drew up three walks on the afternoon from Jolie Duffner, Kaitlyn Burke and Ashleigh Jennings

Game 2
Key Plays
Texas got off to a hot start in the bottom of the first, as Shannon Rhodes' hammered the ball to left field for a two-run homerun. Miranda Elish would then double to right center for an RBI and the Longhorns jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Kara Lokeinsky got the start but would be replaced by Skylar Whitty to finish out the first inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Elish would hammer a two-run homerun and the Longhorns extended the lead 4-0. The Owls didn't get its first hit of the contest until the top of the fifth inning with Carolyn Rosa's single up the middle. FAU scored its first run in the top of the six inning off of Mia Olson's single to centerfield to score Danielle Bieberle, but that would be the only run FAU could salvage on the day to end in a 1-5 loss.

Notables

Rosa came up with her first hit of the season, which broke Shealyn O'Leary's no-hitter
Abigail Morgan came up with her first career hit, which came in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter
Whitty pitched 5.1 innings and gave up five hits and two earned runs. She delivered four strikeouts to elevate her season total to 11

Up Next:
The Owls will take on day two of the St. Pete/Clearwater Invitational tomorrow starting with No. 19/22 Oregon at 10 a.m., followed by playing No. 23/25 James Madison at 1 p.m. Follow along on Twitter (@fauowlssoftball) to get live updates on the contest. Live stats are also available at FAUsports.com.