Rio Grande Sports Information
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The University of Rio Grande went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the nation and then was nearly no-hit in a pair of shutout losses on Friday as part of the Grizzly Softball Open hosted by Georgia Gwinnett College.
The RedStorm suffered a tough 2-0 loss to the ninth-ranked host Grizzlies before watching Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College rally late for a 5-0 win.
The non-conference sweep left Rio Grande at 4-2 on the season.
In the opener, senior Madi Ogden (Williamsburg, OH) was the hard luck loser for the RedStorm.
The right-hander scattered six hits over as many innings in the circle, allowing just one earned run along with three walks and five strikeouts.
Gwinnett pushed across a third inning run on a bases loaded walk to Morgan McQuagge and added another marker in the sixth inning on a two-out, bases loaded passed ball.
Rio Grande mounted a seventh inning rally when freshman Lindzie Runions (Poca, WV) led off with a walk, senior Megan Bazler (Portsmouth, OH) singled to right and junior Emma Elkins (Logan, WV) bunted both runners into scoring position, but the Grizzlies turned to All-American pitcher Annalise Jarvis, who struck out each of the two batters she faced to nail down the victory.
Kailynn James started and got the win for GGC, allowing singles to five different batters over 6-1/3 innings.
Lindzie Owen had two hits for the Grizzlies.
Game two was a scoreless pitcher's duel between Rio Grande senior Hannah Beers and Lindsey Wilson's Hallie Roberts.
Beers blanked the Blue Raiders on just three hits through the first five innings, while Roberts allowed only a leadoff second inning walk to junior Gabby Adams (Grove City, OH) through her first six innings of work.
Roberts got plenty of help offensively in the home sixth as LWC exploded for five hits and all five of its runs.
Sam Hartman, Natalie Wandrie and Brylee Pickerell all had run-scoring hits for the Blue Raiders, who had suffered an 8-0 mercy-rule loss to Georgia Gwinnett earlier in the day, while McKenna Ingram capped the late-game rally with a two-run home run.
Rio Grande avoided being no-hit on a two-out single to center by Adams in the seventh.
Ingram also had a double and Brooklyn Becker added two hits of her own in the win for the Blue Raiders.
Roberts finished with seven strikeouts in the winning effort.
Rio Grande will wrap up its portion of the event on Saturday when it meets the College of Coastal Georgia at 9 a.m. before facing Georgia Gwinnett at 1 p.m.
