MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – Northern Kentucky softball dropped its morning game against LIU Brooklyn, 6-1, before bouncing back with a 5-2 win over Buffalo. The Norse finished the Madeira Beach Invitational with a 4-1 record and move to 6-3 overall.
Game 1: LIU Brooklyn 6, NKU 1
At the Plate
In the Circle
- Ashlynn Roberts started in the circle and pitched 5.1 innings, absorbing the loss and moving to 2-2. She struck out one batter and walked two.
- Taylor Ginther pitched the final .2 innings, surrendering one run.
Key Moments
- LIU Brooklyn went out to an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first. The Blackbirds used a sac fly and two singles to plate the first three runs.
- Another run for LIU Brooklyn came in the third before NKU recorded its lone run of the contest. Mulder singled to third base, and McDaniel entered the game as a pinch runner. A single from Whitmer advanced McDaniel along the base path, and she was driven in by a single to center field from Lawson.
- The Blackbirds used two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to close out scoring.
Game 2: NKU 5, Buffalo 2
At the Plate
- NKU bounced back with 10 hits in the second game of the day and held the Bulls to five hits.
- Mulder went 3-for-4 at the plate and recorded three RBI.
- Sydney Ferrante and Hailey Whitmer also drove in a run each, and Kailey Rossiter added another multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance. She also scored three of NKU's five runs.
In the Circle
- Taylor Ginther pitched her first complete game en route to a 4-0 record this season.
Key Moments
- NKU got on the board quickly when a leadoff single from Rossiter and a sac bunt from Josie Frazier got her into scoring position. Mulder contributed her first RBI of the game with a single to right field.
- In the top of the third, Rossiter took advantage of an error by the Buffalo first baseman to reach base. Once again, Frazier advanced her on a bunt before a Mulder single to left field got her to third. Ferrante got her home with a sac fly to center field for a 2-0 lead.
- The Norse plated three runs in the fifth, which started off with pinch hitter Summer Libecap singling to shortstop. Rossiter advanced her on a bunt and sped to safety at first, and Frazier followed suit with a single bunt to load the bases. Mulder drove Libecap and Rossiter in on a single to left field, and Frazier was scored on a Whitmer single to right field.
- Buffalo earned its first run in the bottom of the frame off an RBI single, and clubbed a home run in the bottom of the seventh before the final two batters were retired.
Norse Notes
- Over the course of the tournament, the Norse batted .310 and held opponents to .277.
- Three Norse batted over .400, led by Toree Stalter at a .545 clip. She went 6-for-11 with a pair of doubles and four runs scored. The shortstop also slugged .727.
- Mulder batted .500, going 10-for-20 at the dish. She led the team with seven RBI.
- Rossiter notched a .438 batting average for the tournament, going 7-for-16. The sophomore scored the most runs for the Norse in the last five games, crossing the plate six times.
- Mulder recorded her seventh multi-hit game of the season, which leads the team. She also had her team-leading fourth multi-RBI showing and has a six-game hitting streak.
- Whitmer also has an active hitting streak, having clubbed at least one in the past four games.
Up Next
- NKU will play two mid-week single games before heading to the USF Under Armour Series in Clearwater, Florida. The Norse first take on Binghamton on Tuesday, March 6 at 11 a.m., before facing Loyola Chicago at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 7.
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