MOBILE, Ala-- The 25th-ranked University of Mobile softball team battled 15th-ranked Bethel College in a pair of extra inning affairs Tuesday, winning the opener 5-4 in 8 innings and falling 12-11 in the 8-inning finale.
Mobile (8-3) hosts Notre Dame College for a 4 pm double header Thursday, Mar. 3.
Victoria Buie earned the win in the opener, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits in an 8-inning effort, while fanning 6 batters.
Milagros Lozada finished 2-4 at the plate, while Mayles Rodriguez went 1-3 with a 3-run home run.
With the teams tied at 1-1, Rodriguez belted her 2-out, 3-run bomb in the bottom of the 4th to stake the Lady Rams to a 4-1 lead. In the top of the 5th, Bethel used a walk, passed ball, RBI-groundout and home run to tie it up.
The score stayed that way until the 8th inning. Using international tie breaker, both teams started the inning with a runner on 2nd. Buie uncorked a wild pitch to advance Bethel's runner to 3rd, but got out of it with a pair of pop outs and a fly out. In the bottom half of the frame, Kaci Pribanic produced a pinch hit game-winning RBI-double to plate Dorlicia Martin.
The finale was wild, as Giana Zimmerman grabbed the win for the Pilots with 3.1 innings of 1-run, 3-hit relief. Buie took the loss after allowing 3 runs in 3.2 innings of relief.
Rodriguez went 3-5 with 2 RBI, Holli McLeod finished 3-5 with 2 runs scored, Erica Bracey finished 2-4 with 3 RBI, Milagros Lozada went 3-5 with 2 RBI and Jessica Swanson finished 3-5 with 3 RBI for Mobile.
Bethel started the game by tallying 9 runs on only 4 hits in the top of the 1st, as Mobile pitchers issued four bases-loaded walks.
Mobile started to make it a game in the bottom of the 4th, scoring 6 runs on 8 hits to make the game 9-7. Five straight Mobile batters singled to start the frame, while Rodriguez and Swanson produced 2-run singles.
After the Pilots pushed ahead 10-7 in the top of the 5th, the Lady Rams tied the game in the bottom half of the 5th thanks to a 2-run single from Bracey and a RBI-hit from Lozada. The score stayed that way until the 8th.
This time, the Pilots did not waste their 8th-inning runner. An infield single and steal put runners in scoring position and Kaitlyn Dubois pushed home the winning run on a suicide squeeze.