By Joshua Harman
The Pride softball team headed down to Florida this pas week as it set out to claim some victories in the Speedline Invitational before its home opener.
Instead, the Pride was scorched at the Speedline losing five of six, sending it into the doldrums before the Hofstra Invitational begins in nine days.
Heading into the tournament last Thursday, the Pride was one game under .500 (5-6) after a successful showing at the USF-Best Western Invitational. It was forced to make a pair of comebacks early on, finally falling short to 2003 NCAA Tournament qualifier Tennessee Tech (7-4), 6-4 in ten innings.
Outfielder Hailey Clark came through with a solo homerun to tie the game in the seventh inning. It would be the defense that let down the Pride in this game, as five errors were committed. Adrienne Clark came on in relief of Callie Osborne and gave up four runs but only one was earned.
On Friday, it was just a matter of who would score first. UNLV (10-10) struck first with an RBI single by right fielder Brittany Freight and was able to shutdown the Pride’s offense to win 1-0.
The Runnin’ Rebels got a boost from Jacqueline Kerrigan who only allowed four Pride players to reach base. Kristin Galeone and Tara Ulrich got the only hits for the Pride. Clark again was the victim of an untimely situation as no run support left her as the losing pitcher.
The Pride turned around for its third game of the tournament, against the University of Illinois (11-3-1). This time the Pride arrived with its bats in hand jumping out on top of the Fighting Illini’s Sherry Taylor as shortstop Laura Sweeney scored on a Meaghan Almon single in the 2nd inning.
Pride starter Alexis Alcantara was solid through the first five innings but collapsed in the top of the sixth allowing a leadoff double to Erin Montgomery. A two-out single by pinch-hitter Lauren Gronski brought in Montgomery to tie the game. Sophomore Amy Belonick came on in relief of Alcantara in the seventh inning and got stung during the two-out rally. The hero for Illinois was Lindsey Hamma as she recorded her second hit of the game to bring in Erin Jones from second base. Amanda Fortune pitched the final two innings for the 2-1 win.
The Pride returned to E.C. Moore Field on Saturday for another dual set of games. In what was a common theme at the tournament, the Pride lost the game, 3-1, managing a mere three hits against Villanova (7-8). The Wildcats pounced early in the third inning before the Pride tied the game. A costly error that would have ended the fifth inning led to two unearned runs being scored by Lindsey Martin and Kristin Yauch. Adrienne Clark was the losing pitcher, going all seven innings. The loss drops Clark to (3-7) on the year.
The Speedline continued to be tough for the Pride as it met up with Western Michigan (8-7). The Pride bucked the Broncos, 4-0, knocking Tricia Vanderslik out of the game after allowing three runs in two innings. The Pride finally unleashed the power that had been dormant for most of the weekend as catcher Meaghan Almon finished the game 2-for-4 with 2 RBI; Ashley Lane and Lisa Torres were each 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Pride. Junior transfer Callie Osborne scattered several hits in the game and escaped a few jams as she picked up her first win, a complete game shutout.
The Pride went back to its old ways in the final game on Sunday with a 5-2 loss to Troy State (9-9). The trio of Alcantara, Belonick, and Danielle Stallone failed to shutdown the Trojans allowing five runs on 14 hits.The Pride return from Tampa after losing 5 of 6 games on the trip and dropping it to (6-11) overall. At this point last year, the Pride was (8-9) after winning 3 of 6 at the 2003 Speedline. It lost only six games the rest of the 2003 season. The Pride begins its home schedule on March 20. The Pride will unveil the 2003 CAA Championship banner before the game, perhaps a reminder of what it is fighting for.