QUEENS, New York – The Samford University softball team swept Howard University 11-4 and Fairleigh Dickinson University 10-3 on the final day of the St. John's University Invitational at Red Storm field on Sunday, March 20. Freshman
Hannah Trombley went 7-for-8 at the plate with four doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored.
The Bulldogs (15-13) opened up the day with a strong showing against the Bison (3-17) as the team scored 11 runs on 12 hits. Nine players recorded hits in the contest with freshman
Hannah Trombley going 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles and a run scored while pinch hitter
Abby Sweeney went 1-for-1 with a three run home run.
Starting pitcher
Annalyn Yantis gave up a pair of runs through five innings up work before fellow freshman
Emily Small came in relief in the top of the frame. Small (1-0) gave up two more runs in the inning which put Samford behind 4-1 to Howard.
Samford pulled to within one run in the bottom of the fifth inning as
Megan Dowdy and
Caitlin Bice each recorded RBI base-hits. Dowdy crushed a double to right center while Bice sent a sharp single right up the middle of the Bison defense.
After a double by Jasmine Gammons to lead off the top of the sixth inning, Small and the Samford defense retired the Bison side. In the bottom of the frame the Bulldogs bats came alive as the team rallied for eight runs on five hits and a Bison error to put the game well out of reach.
Trombley continued her hot hitting in the final game of the St. John's Invitational as she went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two RBIs and one run scored. However, it was Bice who was the most efficient catalyst for the offense she also went perfect from the plate (3-for-3) with four RBIs, three runs scored which included a home run and a walk.
Junior pitchers
Grey Adams and
Rebecca Leonard combined to limit Fairleigh Dickinson to just three runs. Adams tossed five complete innings and sprayed six hits and three runs on which two were earned while Leonard threw two-complete innings without allowing a single hit to the Knights.
Samford jumped out in front in the bottom of the first when sophomore
Lexie Higgins ripped a two RBI single down the left field line with the bases loaded.
The Bulldogs went up 5-0 in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a Knights fielding error, illegal pitch and RBI single by Trombley.
Bice put the game virtually out of reach in the very next inning with a three-run home run that flew over the wall in right center field which put the Bulldogs ahead of the Knights 8-0.
Fairleigh Dickinson attempted to rally in the top of the fourth and fifth innings as they plated three runs but Samford extended its lead back out to 10-3 in the bottom of the fifth.
Both Bice and Trombley recorded RBI doubles in the inning.
The Bulldogs return to action on March 22, when the team host Kennesaw State University at 5 p.m.
