WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The University of Dubuque Spartans left the chill of the Midwest on Sunday for the warmth of Central Florida for The Spring Games tournament for first year Spartans coach Josh Keener.
UD opened play on Monday, Feb. 27 amid a light fog against Bridgewater College at the DiamondPlex Softball Complex. The Spartans were held to one hit in the 0-6 loss.
Grace Lagerhausen opened up the top of the third inning with a single up the middle. UD would strand two runners on base and
Paige Manning suffered the loss on the mound after just three earned runs in 13 hits after facing 25 batters.
In game two of the afternoon, the temperature reached the mid 80's with a wind blowing out. Moravian jumped out to the early lead 4-0 in the top of the second. The Spartans trailed 2-11 before a big at bat in the bottom of the fourth opened up the flurry of hits for the Spartans. With two outs the Spartans would score five runs in three hits and left no runners on base.
Madyson Dwight singles up the middle and advanced
Megan Leick to second base.
Bella Allison moved the runners for bases loaded on a single up the middle.
Grace Lagerhausen walked in a run before Moravian switched pitchers.
Dariann Diorio homered to left field for the grand slam, slicing the Moravian lead 11-7.
The next inning (5th) UD's leadoff
Deanna Salerno would find her stroke and sent the ball over the left field fence for a solo homer, narrowing the lead 11-8. UD would be held scoreless the final two innings as Moravian scored two runs in the top of the sixth and seventh innings to capture the victory 15-8.
The Spartans scored eight runs off eight hits, but committed four errors. UD had some hard hits in the game, but the line outs were right to the defensive players of Moravian. The Spartans suffered a couple of inning ending chances, but UD lost the ball in the afternoon sun in their first games of the year outside.
Dariann Diorio led UD's offense with a game high of five RBI's. Center fielder
Madyson Dwight went 2-3 at the plate and
Deanna Salerno (2B) was 2-4 in the game with an RBI.
Jaelyn Blakemore tossed the first 3.2 innings and struck out two.
Megan Wolff came in for relief and threw the final 3.1 innings and fanned four batters. The two combined for seven walks after facing 45 batters.
The Spartans continue play over spring break on Tuesday morning when they face Eastern University at 9 a.m. (Eastern) and Milwaukee School of Engineering at 11:30 a.m. (Eastern)
