LEESBURG, Fla. (March 5) – The Saint Vincent softball team opened the 2017 season with a doubleheader split at the NTC Spring Games in Florida.
 
Saint Vincent totaled 15 hits, using a strong offensive effort in game one to down Elizabethtown College by an 8-4 score. Senior pitcher Samantha Emert picked up the win in the circle against the Blue Jays.
 
Saint Vincent scored three runs in the second, taking advantage of three walks by E-Town. Courtney Patterson, Shelby Noel and Emily Duerr each picked up an RBI in the inning. The Blue Jays got one back in the fourth to close within 3-1. The Bearcats exploded for five runs in 6th inning, batting around the order. The inning included seven hits by SVC.
 
Elizabethtown tallied one run in the sixth and two in the seventh but could not get closer.
 
Duerr, Patterson, Emert and Mackenzie Gostomski each recorded two hits against E-Town. Emert pitched a complete game, striking out 10 and walking three. Just one of the four runs allowed by Emert was earned.
 
John Carroll's offense scored seven runs over the final two innings to outlast SVC 11-7 in the second game of the day.
 
The Blue Streaks opened game two with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning. John Carroll loaded the bases with one out. Senior catcher Breanne Wallace tagged out a runner at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch for the second out. However, JCU used a double to the left center field gap to take a 2-0 lead.
 
After two outs in the bottom of the first, Duerr singled, Emert walked and Wallace reached on an error to load the bases. However, John Carroll got out of it after a lineout on the infield.
 
Hannah Mizener helped JCU extend the lead to 4-0 with a two-run home run with two outs in the top of the second.
 
Saint Vincent tied the game with four runs in the bottom of the third. Kelsey Lineberger cut the deficit in half with a two-run single, bringing home Duerr and Wallace. Kelsey Hunter brought home another on an infield single. On the same play, an errant throw to third base allowed pinch runner Alyssa Turkovich to score and tie the game.
 
The Blue Streaks would continue their clutch hitting with two outs, using back-to-back run scoring singles to take a 6-4 lead in the top of the sixth. JCU added five runs in the seventh to make it 11-4.
 
The Bearcats battled for three runs in their last at-bat. Gostomski and Patterson recorded back-to-back two out singles to set up runners on the corners with two outs. Noel slapped an RBI double to left center before Duerr tacked on a two-run single to close the scoring at 11-7.
 
Duerr recorded three hits in the loss. Patterson, Noel and Gostomski each added two hits to help pace the offense.
 
The two teams combined for 18 runs on 25 hits. Both teams also committed four errors in the game.
 
Saint Vincent returns to action with two games Monday morning in Florida, as they take on North Central University at 8 a.m. before facing Alvernia University at 10:30 a.m.