Recently, success and wins have been hard to come by for the Shepherd University women’s softball team. February 23rd and 24th the team dropped four consecutive games at the Pioneer Classic softball tournament in Greeneville, Tennessee. Furthermore, on Saturday, March 2nd the Ram’s played their first home games of the season and split the doubleheader against Bloomsburg to gain their first win since the season opener several weeks ago.
After beginning the season with a 1-1 record, the Shepherd Softball team traveled to Tusculum College for the Pioneer Classic. Their first contest of the tournament began with an 8-0 loss to Augusta State and the loss would be a sign of things to come for the Ram’s during the weekend. Junior shortstop Jess Mason managed two hits and senior outfielder Bianca Biondillo also added a hit in the game but their efforts were insufficient to counter Augusta State’s offensive attack. In the day’s later game against West Georgia, the Ram’s jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning after an RBI-single by sophomore outfielder Tayler Schaefer and RBI-double by junior catcher Carly Schmidt.
West Georgia responded and tied the game after scoring two runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth. The two teams continued to score and exchange the lead however in the sixth inning West Georgia scored five runs, which was highlighted by a Monica Mills pinch-hit grand slam, to take the lead for the final time and seal the 11-9 win.
Shepherd would suffer two more disappointing setbacks in the second day of action at the Pioneer Classic by losing 8-7 to Tusculum College in the early game and later losing to King College 8-2. Junior catcher Carly Schmidt and sophomore first baseman Savannah Snyder lead the Ram’s by going 3-for-5 and batting in three runs. Katlyn Stroinski lead Tusculum by going 3-for-4 at the plate and in addition, she drove in the game-winning run. In the later contest, Christina Melcher lead King College past Shepherd by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Kass Taylor and Alysha Voytell lead the team by going 2-for-3 with a run scored and 2-for-2 with an RBI respectively nevertheless the Ram’s struggled to produce any offense.
The Shepherd Softball team played their first home games of the 2013 season on March 2nd when they faced Bloomsburg University twice in doubleheader action. The Huskies claimed a 5-1 victory in the first game of the day however the Ram’s rallied and recorded a 6-3 win in the second game. In the bottom of the third inning of the nightcap Shepherd rallied from a 2-0 deficit and tied the game after sophomore catcher Elisa Orlandi blasted a solo home run out of the park and sophomore outfielder Shanah Plunkett added an RBI-single. In the fourth inning the Rams added two runs off the bats of Tayler Schaefer and Alysha Voytell. Finally, Savannah Snyder hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to add two more runs and secure the win for Shepherd.