Softball Splits Saturday Doubleheader with FIU

Saturday, April 6

Boca Raton, Fla.

4 PM

Florida Atlantic

17-19, 4-6

FIU

18-19, 0-10

Florida Internationa

Florida Atlantic

2019 FAU Softball FAU "First Pitch" Classic Madisyn Palmer 2019

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

4/6/2019 10:31:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

BOCA RATON Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University softball team (17-20, 4-7 C-USA) split its doubleheader with Florida International (19-19, 1-10 CUSA) on Saturday. The Owls took game one of the doubleheader in a 5-2 decision, but fell short of the Panthers in game two, 11-9, despite reaching a season-high 14 hits on the night.

Quotable:

"The first game was a very good game where we came out and hit the ball decently, scored some runs and Skylar [Whitty] did a nice job," said head coach Joan Joyce. "In the second game, we moved along right away and then all of the sudden, we got into a snag where we couldn't stop walking people. Out of the game, even though it wasn't very good for us in the sense of scoring runs, we hit the ball the best we have all season. Overall, we hit the ball really well and if we continue on doing that, we will be fine."

Game 1
Key Plays:
It was a scoreless game until the bottom of the fourth inning with FAU striking first. With the bases loaded, Lauren Whitt reached on a walk to score Fayth Davis. Myah Murray then came up with a sacrifice fly to send Angela Agurkis home and help the Owls go up, 2-0. The Owls' lead did not last for long as the Panthers tied it up with a two-run home run by Natalie Orcutt in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Madisyn Palmer came up with a clutch RBI single to score Ashleigh Jennings and Whitt. Palmer then advanced to home following a single bunt by Samantha Lageyre and a throwing error to extend the Owls' lead, 5-2. The Panthers fell short of a comeback in the top of the seventh inning, as FIU's batters retired in order to finish the game.

Notables:

Lageyre captured her 11th stolen base of the season, which came in the bottom first inning. Jennings and Palmer also came up with steals
Palmer came up with two RBI, while Murray captured her second RBI of her young collegiate career. Whitt also added an RBI with the bases-loaded walk
The Owls turned two double plays in the game, which raised their season total to 23 for a squad that is No. 3 in the nation in that statistical category
Skylar Whitty elevated to 5-3, allowing just two earned runs and four walks, while adding four strikeouts

Game 2
Key Plays:
The Owls kept the momentum going from the first game, scoring two runs in the first inning off an RBI single by Lageyre to score Palmer and an RBI double by Mia Olson to send Lageyre home. In the bottom of the second, Kaitlyn Burke came up with a sacrifice fly to score Olson and Jolie Duffner captured an RBI single to score Palmer and Jennings to put the Owls up, 5-0. The Panthers tacked on two runs in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a fielding error, passed ball and an RBI single by Alexis Johns. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Murray was able to push another FAU run across with an RBI single to score Fayth Davis, but the Panthers knotted the game in the top of the sixth inning with a base-clearing RBI double by Orcutt. With the game tied at six going into the seventh inning, the Panthers marched five runs to go up, 11-6. The Owls were able to gain three runs in their rally at the bottom of the seventh with singles by Murray, Danielle Bieberle and Palmer, but fell just short on the night, 11-9.

Notables:

Every Owl in the lineup contributed a hit or an RBI. The Owls' 14 hits is a new season-high for the ladies in red and blue
Palmer's three hits is a new season-high and matches a career-high for the senior
The Owls turned another double play in the second game, making it three on the day and 24 on the season
FAU had five stolen bases by the same three who stole in the first game. Palmer matched a season-high three steals, while Lageyre and Jennings also snagged one a piece
Davis had two hits in game two, which elevates her hitting streak to four games. She is now batting .338
Murray matched a career-high two hits and set another career-high in RBI with two. She now has four on the season
Olson continues to hammer the ball, as she came up with two hits in the game to now bat .333 on the season. She drew the start for the Owls, pitching 3.1 innings with a strikeout
Kara Lokeinsky had a career-high four strikeouts, as she pitched 2.2 innings in relief

Up Next:

The Owls will try to clinch the series against FIU tomorrow at 1 p.m. For ticket information, visit the Ticketmaster page or call 1-866-FAU-OWLS. For live updates during all of the games and for other FAU softball news, follow along on Twitter (@fauowlssoftball), Instagram (@Owls_softball) and Facebook.