Mercer University
Northern Ky.
Bears Take Saturday Doubleheader at Northern Kentucky
3/16/2013 12:00:00 AM | Softball
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – As a winter storm barrels into the Cincinnati area, the Mercer softball team escaped with a pair of key Atlantic Sun Conference wins at Northern Kentucky on Saturday.
With highs only supposed to be in the mid 30's and a good chance for snow for tomorrow, the Bears took advantage of the decent weather on Saturday to take both games of the doubleheader 7-2 and 3-1. The wins move Mercer's early conference mark to 5-2 and 16-14 overall while Northern Kentucky drops to 0-5 in the A-Sun and 6-17 overall.
Mercer's Julia Rice threw perhaps her most complete outing of the season in game one, securing her eighth win while Krista Kennedy continued to collect gawdy offensive numbers against the Norse. Rice also picked up a save in game two as senior Kerri Nidiffer also added her eighth win of the season in game two.
GAME ONE:
After struggling to figure out the Kennesaw State pitching staff on Wednesday, the Bears offense got back on track in game one, registering 13 hits in a 7-1 victory. The 13 hits tied for the third most this season as four Bears' players collected multiple hits.
Junior Krista Kennedy led the way as she continued her impressive campaign by tallying a career-high five RBI off three hits, including two doubles in the game.
Freshman slap hitter, Marissa Botz bumped her average up a good margin with a 4-for-5 performance in game one. The Katy, Texas native has played in just eight games this season due to injury but has already registered 14 hits.
Junior Julia Rice picked up the start in game one and threw a gem in tying a team-low in allowing just three hits. Rice has done a good job of late of inducing outs and allowing her defense to make plays. Rice's line finished with seven complete with one run, zero earned and four strikeouts. It was her seventh complete game this year.
GAME TWO:
Senior Sarah Santana helped lead the Bears to victory in game two as she produced all three of the Bears runs in a 3-1 win. Santana's big performance at the plate coupled with another solid performance from the pitching staff and Mercer completed the doubleheader sweep of the Norse.
Santana put Mercer ahead in the top of the third as she connected with her fourth homerun of the season – a two-run shot – to give the Bears an early 2-0 lead.
Northern Kentucky plated its only run of the game in the bottom half of the third off game two starting pitcher Kerri Nidiffer. Nidiffer gave up five hits in total in four complete innings of work. Rice would take over in the fifth and finish out the contest, allowing just one hit over the final three innings to secure her first save of the season.
The Bears added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Santana belted her second multiple base hit, a double to left center to score junior McKenzie Woody from second. Woody finished the day going 5-for-9 at the plate with three runs scored and two stolen bases.
The Bears and Norse finish out the regular season series tomorrow with a single game scheduled for 11 a.m.
