FORT MYERS, FL (February 26, 2016)—The Sacred Heart softball team dropped two games Friday afternoon in the first day of the Battle at the Beach hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University. Despite a strong offensive effort in the season-opener, which featured a homer from Victoria D'Addario (Lincoln Park, N.J.), the Pioneers could not overcome two unearned runs and fell to Oakland 7-5. Immediately following, the Pioneers took the field against FGCU. SHU was unable to get anything going against the Eagles and were shutout 8-0 to fall to 0-2 on the young season.

Noteworthy:

• Kelyn Fillmore (Simi Valley, Calif.) went 2-for-5 at the plate over two games with a double and a RBI
• Despite getting the loss against Oakland, Jamie Carlson (Corona, Calif.) struck out five batters

SHU vs. Oakland:
How It Happened:

• The Golden Grizzlies got three runs off junior pitcher Jamie Carlson (Corona, Calif.) in the first inning
• After a scoreless second inning for both teams, D'Adddario hit a two-out solo shot over the fence down the leftfield line in the top of the third to begin chipping away at Oakland's lead
• Oakland threatened in the bottom of the fourth loading the bases, but Carlson got Brittney Miller to ground out to shortstop Hailey Desrosiers (Cypress, Calif.) to get out of the inning with the 3-1 score still in tack
• The top of SHU's lineup came alive in the top of the fifth as Lauren Delgadillo (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) and pinch-hitter Fallon Bevino (Milford, Conn.) knocked back-to-back singles over the left side of the infield to lead off the inning. Up next, D'Addario hit a grounder to Oakland third baseman Carah Pletscher who overthrew first base allowing both base runners to score and D'Addario to go to second. The error evened the score at three, and there it stayed through the rest of the half inning as Kaley Waalkes got the next three batters out
• The Golden Grizzlies reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning. After leading off the inning by reaching on an E6, Pletscher came around to score as a single from Waalkes sent Pletscher and another base runner home
• Two singles and a walk allowed by Carlson in the bottom of the sixth expanded Oakland's lead to 7-3 going into the final inning, but the Pioneers still had fight left to put up
• With one out, Desrosiers singled to right field before D'Addario grounded out. With two down, Linsey DeDomenico (Northford, Conn.) hammered a double down the leftfield line to score Desrosiers. Behind her, Waalkes allowed one more hit, a RBI double to Fillmore that cut the Golden Grizzlies lead to 7-5. To hold onto its lead, Haley Zemmer got called into the circle for Oakland. The sophomore got Hannah Ford (New Fairfield, Conn.) to groundout to preserve the win

SHU vs. FGCU:
How It Happened:

• Senior Adrianna Mallory (Pine Bush, N.Y.) got her first loss of the season after she surrendered six runs to the Eagles in 2.1 innings
• Kristen McCann (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Kelli Licursi (Somers, N.Y.) both gave up a run in relief
• The Pioneers' lineup was silenced in the second game of the day as Eagles' starter Taylor Wade held Sacred Heart to just two hits throughout the five-inning game