CLEARWATER, Fla. – Jordan Harbacek turned in a strong performance for the Northern Kentucky University softball team, collecting three hits and spinning a shutout for the Norse in a Friday split at the Under Armour Showcase.
NKU defeated South Dakota by a 7-0 score before coming up just short against East Carolina, 4-3. With the results, NKU now stands at 6-13 on the season.
Game 1 – NKU 7, South Dakota 0 Harbacek did it all for the Norse, picking up two hits and driving in two runs at the plate while hurling a four-hit shutout in the circle to give NKU a 7-0 win over South Dakota to start the weekend.
Zahrya McFarland added a pair of hits, including a triple, and
Alina Maher drove in a pair of runs to pace the Norse offense.
Maher's two-run single came in the bottom of the first inning, driving in
Sydney Ferrante, who led off the inning with a double, and
Kate Bartolovich, who was hit by a pitch and stole a base in the inning.
Nicolette Hayes added to the Norse lead in the bottom of the second on a squeeze bunt to score McFarland after her triple to make it a 3-0 game.
Dani Devlin led off the fourth inning with a home run and Harbacek smacked a two-run single down the line in right field to extend NKU's lead to 6-0 before McFarland's RBI-single in the fifth to reach the final score.
Harbacek's shutout moved her to 3-3 on the season in the circle, and stands as NKU's first shutout since
Ashlynn Roberts allowed just four hits and struck out five in a 5-0 win over Austin Peay on April 1, 2015. The loss fell to Rachel Cue (1-11), who gave up four runs on five hits in three-plus innings.
Game 2 – East Carolina 4, NKU 3 Nicolette Hayes had two hits and
Hayley Curtis scored two runs, but the Norse came up just short in the final game of Friday's action, falling to East Carolina.
After
Charlie Nolen pitched out of a one-out jam with a runner on third in the first, she could not escape damage in the second as Megan Quick belted a three-run homer to left field to open the scoring.
The Norse came back with a pair of runs in the top of the third. After Curtis reached on an error to lead off the inning,
Dani Devlin beat out a single to second base, with Curtis taking third base with some heads-up baserunning. After Devlin stole second base,
Alina Maher drove in NKU's first run on a groundout to score Curtis, and
Kara Meter roped a double into the gap in right-center field to plate to bring in Devlin.
East Carolina (14-10) got a run back on a bases-loaded walk to Quick, making it a 4-2 game. The score held until the top of the seventh inning, when Curtis again used a throwing error to get on base, taking second on the play. An infield single by Harbacek put the tying run on base, and Curtis brought the Norse within a run on a double steal, taking the plate to make it a 4-3 game. The Norse would get no more, though, as Maher struck out to end the game.
Mary Williams (3-3) got the win for the Pirates, giving up three runs on six hits and striking out four in 6.1 innings. Lydia Ritchie picked up her third save of the year, striking out both batters she faced in the seventh.
The loss fell to Nolen (3-6), who gave up three earned runs on seven hits and struck out three in the complete-game effort.
NKU now moves on to Day 2 of the Under Armour Showcase, where the Norse will take on Fairfield at 9:15 a.m. before closing the day against IPFW at 2 p.m.
