Softball opens spring break trip with pair of losses to Rivier

SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. – The Juniata College softball team opened up its 2012 spring break trip on Monday with losses to Rivier College in both ends of a doubleheader. The Eagles dropped game one to Rivier, 5-0, and fell to the Raiders, 8-0, in game two.

In the first game, Rivier plated the winning run in the first inning when the Raiders' Lauren Beatty plated Catherine Roy on a base hit. Roy got aboard earlier in the frame on a walk drawn off starter Kelsea Decker (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro).

Rivier added two more runs in the third on Beatty's two-run single, and added single runs in the fourth and sixth innings.

Juniata (0-2) got its first base runner in the third inning on a two-out walk drawn by Erin Francis (Parkton, Md./Hereford) walk, but the next batter popped up to third to end the inning.  

The Eagles got base runners as far as second in the sixth and seventh innings, but were unable to force in a run. Steph Frith (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) reached on a two-out single in the sixth, advancing to second on Ali Vogatsky's fielder's choice grounder, but would get no farther.

It was much the same in the seventh, as Meghan Decker (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro) led off with a base hit, and pinch runner Nicole Dengler (Duncansville, Pa./Hollidaysburg) was sacrificed over to second by Paige Robertson (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area), but the rally ended as the next two Juniata batters grounded out to give Rivier the win.

Kelsea Decker fanned eight Rivier batters while yielding four hits and nine walks in the complete game effort.

In game two, Rivier opened with a five-run bottom of the first, thanks to four singles and a double by Roy. The Raiders added three more in the bottom of the fourth, including a pair of runs on a Marissa Mercier double.

Juniata threatened to score in the top of the first, after Rachel Smith (Martinsburg, Pa.) led off with a single. Smith advanced to second on Frith's grounder to third, and moved to third on a Rivier error at first before the inning ended on a Kelsea Decker strikeout. 

The Eagles managed to load up the bases in the top of the fifth, on a pair of hit batters sandwiched around a two-out Smith single. However the rally ended with an Eagle strikeout, to complete the Rivier sweep.

Smith went the distance in the circle, allowing eight runs on 14 hits.

Juniata continues its spring break schedule on Tuesday morning, beginning with a game against Penn State Berks at 9:30 a.m., followed by Wentworth Institute of Technology at 11:30 a.m.

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