LAKELAND, Fla.—The Fire went 1-1 against No. 20 Warner during its Senior Day doubleheader, taking the first game 3-1 and falling 7-6 in a back-and-forth affair in Game 2.
SEU scored its eighth Top 25 win in the first contest, scoring a pair of unearned runs in the second and added another in the fifth.
Warner's run in the contest also came on a defensive miscue in the third.
Freshman pitcher
Autumn Hunter earned her 14
th win of the season, surrendering just two hits and recording five strikeouts against three walks.
At the plate,
Kaley Sarasty was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Seniors
Hannah Bonner and
Britt Robinson were both 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Warner got a two-run homer in the fourth to take the lead in the second contest, and threatened to break the game open loading the bases afterwards, but
Payton Thomas got a fly out and a strike out to end the threat.
In the fifth, Robinson smashed the first pitch she saw over the left field wall for the first home run of her career. With two outs in the inning, senior
Lauren Watters drove a pitch to right center to score
Madison Williams and
Sam Holcomb to give SEU its first lead at 3-2.
Warner answered back in the next half inning with three runs, getting a sacrifice fly, a fielder's choice bunt, and an RBI single.
The Fire got back within a run in the sixth on a bases-loaded error in an inning that was kept alive by Robinson reaching on a dropped third strike with two outs to make it 5-4 heading to the seventh.
The Royals added two on a single to center field by Kasey Heslin, but again the Fire tried to make a late rally, getting an RBI double from
Hannah O'Shields and a sacrifice fly by Robinson, but were unable to get another to tie the game.
Williams was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Bonner was 1-for-2 with a run scored, and Holcomb was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.
Peyton Varela worked the first 3.1 innings in the pitching circle, allowing two runs on six hits. Thomas went 1.2 scoreless and hitless innings with a strikeout and three walks. Hunter dropped to 14-12 working the final two innings.
The Fire will play St. Thomas in a doubleheader on Wednesday starting at 2 p.m. in their home finale.
