Messiah Earns Split On First Day Of Florida Swing
Junior Amy Bowie finished with two RBI against Felician.

Clermont, FL — The Messiah College softball team got its spring break quest south started with a split Monday, as the team dropped a 13-11 decision to NCAA Division II Felician College while rebounding to capture a 5-2 win over Concordia University (WI) in the day’s second game.

Messiah (4-7) is currently on spring break and is competing at the National Training Center Softball Complex, host of over 50 collegiate games this week alone. Monday’s games were the first of an eight-game in six-day stretch for the Falcons, coming after a six-day layoff from intercollegiate competition.

That hiatus proved to be of little concern for Messiah offensively, as the team cranked out 14 hits in the day’s first contest against Felician. After trailing by a 3-0 count after one and a half innings of play, the Falcons responded with seven runs over the game’s next three innings, taking a 7-5 lead heading into the fifth. A second-inning home run from junior catcher Amy Bowie got things started, while another hit from Bowie in the third inning brought home another RBI.

A double from freshman Rebecca Stackhouse kept things moving in the third, while four singles drove in three more runs in the fourth inning.

Even while Messiah was lighting up the scoreboard in the bottom half of the innings, the Golden Falcons were doing the same in the top halves, forcing Messiah to utilize the majority of its pitching corps. Freshman Corinn Eby got the start in the pitching circle and went four innings, giving up six runs — four of which were earned — off of eight hits before being removed in favor of classmate Jessica Climenhaga.

Climenhaga (0-3) would eventually pick up the loss, tossing the majority of the final three innings before senior Megan Rice entered in the seventh to retire the last two outs of the game. A three-run sixth inning from Messiah arrived courtesy of a Stackhouse triple and double from sophomore Lindsay Hall, and the Falcons claimed a 10-9 lead heading into the final stanza.

Unfortunately for Messiah, Felician would save its most potent inning for last, knocking four runs across the plate in the top of the seventh off of just two hits. A three-RBI, one-out triple did most of the damage, while a sac groundout scored another run just one batter later.

A leadoff triple from freshman Rebekkah Funk would give Messiah a good start at a final rally, but it would fall short. Another triple from Stackhouse scored Funk following a strikeout, but the Falcons’ recorded a pair of fly-outs in their next two at-bats to end the game.

“It was a beautiful day for softball, and our first game today turned out to be a slugfest,” said Amy Weaver, Messiah head coach. “It was back and forth the whole way through, and we used three pitchers to try and hold them. They are a very good team, though, and came up with the big hits when they needed them.”

Hall led Weaver’s team offensively, going 2-4 from the plate with three RBI. Bowie finished 2-3 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI, while sophomore Nicole Adams finished 1-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Stackhouse had two triples and Funk another, while Bowie’s home run was her first of the season.

Rightfully frustrated after the high-scoring defeat, junior pitcher Jenna Batchelor (1-0) did her best in Monday’s second game to ensure such offensive fireworks would not occur. The Falcons’ right-handed pitcher went the distance in the circle, striking out four batters while allowing Concordia just three hits. Only one of the Concordia’s scores was earned.

The Falcons nickled and dimed Concordia during its at bats, scoring a single run in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. The most prominent of those scores came in the fourth, when Adams blasted a lead-off home run.

Stackhouse, Bergakker and senior Lana Trotter each had a double in the contest, while Adams went a perfect 4-4 from the plate, scoring two runs while knocking in two RBI. Hall also finished with a pair of runs batted in, going 1-2 from the plate.

“After our first game the team looked to be down after slugging out 11 runs and still losing,” Weaver said. “We were able to pump them back up for our second game and they played very well to earn the win in a much different type of game. Jenna Batchelor really came out with her game face today. You could just feel her determination and it paid off as she held Concordia to just two runs. She really had a fantastic outing as a pitcher.”

Messiah will now turn around for another double-dip Tuesday, as the team is scheduled to face off against Montclair State University at 9:30 a.m. and Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham at 1:30 p.m.