LAKELAND, Fla.—After dropping the opening two games of their first conference series to the Royals, the Fire battled back to salvage the final game by a score of 5-4.
The Fire started the day on the right foot, retiring the Royals in order in the top of the first and adding a run in the home half of the inning.
Taylor Stoltz tattooed a ball over the centerfielder's head for a leadoff triple. She scored on a sacrifice fly by the next batter,
Sydnie Malloy, as the Fire took a 1-0 lead.
A Southeastern error gave the Royals life in the fifth inning. After Ashton Sparkman reached base safely, she was tripled in by Torey Scott, who scored on a fielder's choice during the next at-bat.
Though
Lindsie Scholwinski only surrendered one earned run and retired four batters in the game, the Fire fell in game one 2-1. Stoltz was the lone offensive threat for the Fire, as she went 3-for-4, recording half of Southeastern's hits, and came around to score SEU's single run.
Game two began much like game one did. The Royals went down in order and Stoltz scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield, this time by
Laney Haynes, to give the Fire a 1-0 lead.
A couple of questionable calls and uncharacteristic errors allowed the Royals to take a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning. Following what seemed to be an applied tag on a Warner runner at home plate, two additional runs came in on a sacrifice fly and Southeastern's third error of the game.
The Fire showed a tremendous amount of heart in the face of adversity throughout the contest. After not getting calls, giving up a few runs, and making a couple errors in the top of the inning, Southeastern immediately responded with three runs of their own.
Cat Maldonado,
Kiah Ferrell and
Sam Holcomb all recorded RBIs to tie the game at four.
Scholwinski, who came in to relieve
Stef Guercio in game two, then brought around Malloy on a sacrifice fly in the sixth to regain a one run advantage 5-4. Though the Royals threatened in the top half of the seventh, the Fire were able to escape with the victory, as Stoltz threw out a runner trying to score from second to end the ballgame.
The Fire's next matchup will feature a doubleheader at home with #17 Grand View University on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30pm.
