Contact: Tim Ertle

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Game One Box / Game Two Box
 
PEPPER PIKE, Ohio ­– The Ursuline softball team put up a gritty effort but couldn’t knock off a talented Mercyhurst club on Monday (April 8) afternoon. The Lakers took both games of the doubleheader: 7-1 and 4-1 in eight innings.

Ursuline dipped to 6-14 overall while Mercyhust ended its five-game losing skid and improved to 12-18 in the process.

Junior Natalie Huggins led Ursuline with three hits to continue her hot streak. She’s hitting .429 (6-14) over her last six games.

Game One: Mercyhurst 7, Ursuline 1
The Lakers struck for four runs off junior pitcher Natalie Huggins in the first, her only inning in the circle. Mercyhurst had four hits in the inning and capitalized on an Arrow error. Still, Huggins limited the damage as she got Allison Yule to fly out to sophomore center fielder Sam Roberts with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Junior Sarah Maxwell took over in the circle in the second inning and allowed a run after Molly McNamara singled and scored on a Courtney Smith double to make it a 5-0 game.

Ursuline chipped into the deficit in the bottom of the second when freshman Rachel Wells started the frame with a single to left field and later came around to score.

Courtney Smith was hit by a Maxwell pitch in the fourth and her pinch runner Shannon Minihane eventually scored to make it a 6-1 game. Smith doubled and scored herself in the seventh to decide the final margin.

Huggins took the loss to fall to 1-1. Maxwell allowed just two earned runs in her six innings of work but it didn’t matter much as Mercyhurst hurler Megan Hopton was in control.

Hopton allowed just one run on three hits and a walk while punching out seven Arrows to improve to 7-9.

Game Two: Mercyhurst 4, Ursuline 1 (Eight Innings)
Both teams certainly had ample opportunities to put runs on the board but Mercyhurst’s Annie Truelove and Ursuline’s senior pitcher Ciara Seymour did a terrific job of limiting the damage.

The Lakers left eight runners on base and the Arrows stranded seven in a game that needed an extra inning to decide the outcome.

Just as they did in the first game of the day, Mercyhurst came out of the gate to take a lead in the first inning. Allison Yule started the game with a single and she later scored on Courtney Smith’s RBI double.

After that, the Lakers were blanked for the next six frames as Seymour kept her team in the game.

Ursuline finally got to Truelove in the fifth. Sophomore center fielder Sam Roberts laced a two-out single up the middle and she moved up a base when senior second baseman Lauren Grana worked a walk. Junior Natalie Huggins – Ursuline’s hottest hitter over the last week – singled up the middle and the speedy Roberts raced home to tie the game.

Senior catcher Megan Passwaiter started the bottom of the sixth with a single but she was later forced out on a double play. Mercyhurst got the leadoff hitter aboard in the seventh but she too was stranded.

The Lakers busted down the door in the eighth with a three-run inning. Courtney Smith singled to center field and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Megan Smith walked to put two on and then Kayleigh Milliman clubbed a two-run double to left center to make it a 3-1 game.

Kristen Fyffe followed with a double to right field that plated Milliman and grew the lead to three before Truelove retired Ursuline in order in the eighth to preserve the victory.

Seymour took the loss to fall to 2-7 while Truelove improved to 4-3.

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After six consecutive home games, the Arrows are heading back on the road. Ursuline will visit Malone University for a doubleheader on Thursday (April 11), starting at 3:30 p.m.

As always, we encourage you to check UrsulineArrows.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see if anything changes as a result of the weather.

PLEASE NOTE: The home doubleheader against Slippery Rock University that was originally scheduled for Wednesday (April 10) has been moved to Thursday, April 25th. First pitch of game one will still be at 3:30 p.m.