St. Petersburg, Fla. - The Webber International University (3-5) softball team split with a division two opponent for the second time this season as they took on Eckerd College (3-3) in St. Petersburg Wednesday evening. Both games came down to the final inning with Webber beating the Tritons 2-1 in the first game, and losing in extra innings in the nightcap, 4-3.

 

Eckerd jumped on the scoreboard first in game one of the double-header after back to back hits and a fielders choice in the bottom of the first made the score 1-0. The Lady Warriors tied the score in the fourth inning when Brittany Spencer reached on a base hit and eventually came around to score on an error on Ashley Clark's sharp grounder to second. The score remained tied at 1-1 until the Lady Warriors senior left fielder Krystan Mahowald, led off the 7^th inning with a home run over the left field fence. The blast was the eventual game winner as the Warriors turned back the Tritons comeback attempt in the bottom of the 7^th to secure the victory. 

 

Pitcher Kristen LeFan earned her 3rd win of the season in fine fashion as she threw 7 innings, giving up one run on 5 hits and fanning 12 to raise her season strikeout total to 51. Overall the Lady Warriors offensive continued their solid hitting as they banged out 10 hits. Leading the way for WIU was senior Samantha Mendello who went 3 for 3 in the game. Also excelling at the plate was Kristen LeFan (2 for 4) and Krystan Mahowald (2 for 4, with a homerun, and the game winning RBI). Freshman Brittany Spencer went 1 for 4 in her collegiate debut and scored a run.

 

In the second game, the Warriors jumped out to the lead when Rachael Jackson led off the inning with a single and pinch runner Lacy Lambeth moved to 3^rd on Sam Mendello's sacrifice bunt and throwing error by the Triton 1^st baseman. Kristen LeFan then hit a deep fly ball to left field to score Lambeth and put the Warriors up 1-0. The Lady Warriors extended their lead to 3-0 when Brittany Spencer doubled to lead off the 4^th and was knocked in by Samantha Mendello's towering homerun to left field. Eckerd answered by scoring 1 in the bottom of the fourth following 3 singles and two walks; and tied the game in the 5^th with 2 singles and 2 walks. Webber threatened in the 6^th, but could not push a run across and the game ended in a 3-3 tie after 7 innings.

 

After a scoreless Texas Tiebreaker 8^th, WIU advanced their runner to 3^rd in the top of the 9^th, but couldn't seem to drive the run across. In the bottom half of the inning, Eckerd scored the game winner on a sinking line drive to left field which gave the Tritons the 4-3 victory.

 

Senior Kristen Stewart pitched 5 innings for the Lady Warriors and earned the no decision. She gave up 6 hits and only 2 earned runs while striking out 1. Kristen LeFan came on in the 6^th for the Warriors, and took the tough luck loss. She gave up 2 hits over 3.1 innings while striking out 4, pushing her season strike out total to 55. Offensively the Lady Warriors had 6 hits including two off the bat of senior first baseman Rachael Jackson. Samantha Mendello went 1 for 3 in the contest with a two run homerun and finished 4 for 6 with 2 RBI's between both games. Freshman Brittany Spencer continued to impress with a 1 for 4 performance, including a double and a run scored. Kristen Stewart went 1 for 2 at the plate and had 4 assists in the field.  

 

The Lady Warriors will be back in action when they travel to Clermont to participate in Dot Richardson's spring games at the National Training Center next Tuesday, February 23rd and Wednesday, February 24^th. Webber will take on Davenport University, Goshen College and Concordia College in round robin fashion over two days. The first game is set for Tuesday at 11:00am versus Davenport University.