Box Score (Concordia) | Box Score (Oneonta)

CLERMONT, Fla - The University of Scranton softball team opened their 2017 season on Saturday at the Sleepy Hollow Fields in Clermont, Florida, where the Royals dropped tough games to Concordia-Wisconsin (4-3, in eight innings) and SUNY-Oneonta (4-0).

In the Concordia-Wisconsin game, Scranton scored their first runs of the season in the third inning, as senior Shannon Stricker (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell Egan) smashed a two-run home run that scored sophomore Molly Hampsey (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock), giving the Royals an early 2-0 lead.

The two-run lead held until the fifth, as Concordia got on the board with two runs of their own off a homer, tying the game at 2-all entering the sixth.

That tie held through the final two innings, as both teams failed to threaten to score in both the sixth and seventh innings, sending the game to extras.

In the eighth, Scranton was first to strike, as Stricker knocked home Hampsey (who was placed on second to start the inning per the international tiebreaker rule) on a lead-off RBI single, giving the Royals the edge back at 3-2. Scranton did have a chance to extend the lead out, but the Royals stranded runners on second and third to end the frame.

The bottom of the eighth saw junior pitcher Morgan Rentzheimer (Laurys Station, Pa./Parkland) quickly strike out back-to-back batters. But, Concordia's Maddie Zazas won the game in the next at-bat, smacking a walk-off, two-run home run with two outs to win the game for Concordia.

Overall, Stricker and Rentzheimer both had two hits in the contest. In  the circle, Rentzheimer was great dispite suffering the tough loss, striking out 11 batters, allowing five hits in eight innings of work.

In the Oneonta game, the Royals coulnd't muster much offense, as the Red Dragons scored pairs of runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to take the game by four runs.

Hampsey had a big game at the plate in the loss, going a perfect 3-for-3. Senior Emily Simon (Freehold, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) was credited with the loss in the circle for Scranton, allowing just two earned runs in five-plus innings of work.

The University of Scranton softball team continues its Spring Break trip in Florida tomorrow, taking on Rutgers-Newark at 10:30 a.m., then Oswego St. at 3:30 p.m.

--ROYALS--