Softball breaks losing streak in 8-7 victory

03/24/09 -The University of Rhode Island softball team lost its fifth straight game Friday, before picking up its first Atlantic 10 victory of the season on Saturday. After falling to Dayton University, 7-2, the Rams bounced back with a thrilling 8-7 win over the Flyers the very next day.

Rhody entered Dayton averaging just 2.3 runs per game, but fell one run short of its season high of nine, set back on Feb. 21 against Florida A&M, when it plated eight runs in the tail end of a back-to-back against the Flyers.

"If you look at who we're playing in our lineup right now, we start as many as four or five freshman," head coach Erin Layton said, "and we're playing a sophomore who didn't see a lot of game action last year. So, it's definitely a confidence builder and I think that our team was very pleased that they were able to hit and then run the bases the way that we did."

In each game, Rhode Island got on the board first and jumped out to an early lead. In Friday's game, however, the Rams were unable to contain Dayton as the Flyers erased a 1-0 deficit with one run in the first, and two in the third. Dayton never looked back again, scoring a pair of runs in the fourth and sixth inning, pulling away for a 7-2 victory.

"We had a defensive injury that set our team back," Layton said, "and we're trying to find the solution."

The win was just the third for the Flyers, while marking the 12th time the Rams have fallen this season.

Freshman Allison Hartzel, who saw action in both games, suffered the loss in the opener. She went four innings while giving up four hits and surrendering six runs, only three of which were earned. She walked five batters while striking out three. Hartzel relieved senior Odalys Torres, who went the first two innings, allowing just one run off of two hits.

"We're young across the board," Layton said. "We have Odalys and then we have three freshmen that we're sending out on the mound, and we're going to go as they go. If they keep the ball in play for us and throw strikes, I feel like we'll be successful. They know what they have to do and they're working hard to get that done."

Rhody's young pitching staff struggled for the second game in a row, giving up seven runs once again, but its offense carried the way en route to a thrilling one-run victory. In the win, Rhody's 3-4-5 hitters, consisting of juniors Darci Borden, Leah DiBussolo and Marybeth Ball went a combined 5-11, while scoring four runs and driving in three runs. In the loss, however, the 3-4-5 combination for Rhode Island went 0-6, while driving in and scoring zero combined runs.

"I don't think there's pressure on just the 3-4-5 hitters," Layton said. "There has to be pressure on the coaching staff to recognize what pitches the other teams are throwing and get with each kid individually to offer adjustments and suggestions for what we need to learn from each at bat. We need to work on staying in the moment and not letting at-bats carry over to the next plate appearance."

Rhode Island stays on the road as they open up a double-header this afternoon against Stony Brook University. First pitch of the first game is set for 2 p.m.

"[Stony Brook] is very well balanced," Layton said. "What we're going to do is go in and use this as a check-point for us because I feel they are similar to St. Bonaventure [University] in a lot of respects and we need to not only continue to build off of our win over Dayton, but we need to play a challenging non-Conference schedule to get us ready for St. Bonaventure.