Mercer Falls to Presbyterian, 4-0, on Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, February 15

Madeira Beach, Fla.

4 PM

Mercer University

3-6

Presbyterian

5-3

Mercer

Presbyterian

Photo by: Alex Keller

Mercer Falls to Presbyterian, 4-0, on Saturday Afternoon

2/15/2020 8:52:00 PM | Softball

Box Score @MercerUSoftball

Micayla Rood was credited with two of Mercer's five hits

By: Kraig Doremus

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — The Mercer Bears were unable to pick up their third win of The Spring Games as they fell to the Presbyterian College Blue Hose, 4-0, on Saturday.

Mercer recorded five hits in the contest with Micayla Rood collecting a pair of base knocks to lead the Bears. Danielle Castleberry, Elisa Rosado and Kenlie Harvey also got hits in the contest. Rosado recorded Mercer's lone extra-base hit with a double in the top of the fifth inning.

Riley Hickok started the game in the circle and tossed three innings. The Warner Robbins, Ga., native surrendered three runs (two earned) and gave up four hits. Lauren O'Dell came on in relief and allowed just one run (earned) on one hit over three innings of work.

How It Happened

Rood began the contest with a single down the left field line and moved to second on a groundout by Rosado. She was stranded 120 feet from home as Presbyterian got out of top of first the inning.

Hickok pitched around a two-out double in the bottom of the first to hold the Blue Hose scoreless, but Presbyterian got on the scoreboard in the second frame. After Mercer was retired in order in its half of inning, Presbyterian's Alexis Meadows' sacrifice fly scored Layna Johnson to give the Blue Hose a 1-0 lead.

The Bears threatened in the top of the third but left Harvey stranded on second base. Presbyterian extended its lead to 3-0 via a two-run homer in the bottom of the third.

In the top of the fourth, the Bears put two runners in scoring position as they looked to cut into the Blue Hose's lead. Castleberry led off with a single and moved to second when Abby Walsh drew a walk with one out. A double steal put both runners in scoring position, and the Bears loaded the bases thanks to Sophie Sumner drawing a walk with two outs. Mercer was unable to plate any runs as Presbyterian's Jenna Greene got out of the inning.

Presbyterian loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the frame but was limited to just one run. After Hunter Meadows scored on a fielder's choice, O'Dell struck out Kiley Kross for the first out of the inning. The Blue Hose seemed poised to score their fifth run when Lath Freeman hit a fly ball to Allie Jones. Jones made the catch and quickly fired the ball to Sumner who applied the tag on Alexis Meadows as she tried to slide into home for the inning-ending double play.

The Bears got two hits in the top of the fifth. First, Rood hit a one-out single which Rosado followed with a double to left field. Rood was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play, and a subsequent strikeout ended Mercer's half of the fifth.

O'Dell pitched around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the frame, and Mercer once again threatened during its turn at the plate in the next inning. Walsh was hit by a pitch, and both Diamond Williams and Harvey drew walks to load the bases. Unfortunately for the Bears, Greene was able to get out of the inning and hold Mercer scoreless.

It was a quiet bottom of the sixth for the Blue Hose as O'Dell worked quickly and retired the side in order. Castleberry was the lone baserunner for the Bears in the seventh. She reached via a two-out error and took second on a poor throw back to the pitcher. The speedy redshirt junior was able to steal third, but a groundout ended the game in favor of the Blue Hose.

Notables

Rood went 2-for-4 in the contest to maintain her .500 batting average. She has recorded 15 hits in 30 tries this season.
She leads the team with five multi-hit games and has reached base safely in all nine games.
Rood is on a seven-game hitting streak. The last time she failed to record a hit came in a 10-7 loss to Tennessee Tech on opening day.
Rosado hit her team-leading fourth double of the year.
Castleberry stole a pair of bases to set a new single game-high for the Bears this season.

Up Next

Mercer will close out its time at The Spring Games tomorrow with two contests. The Bears will take on Middle Tennessee State at 9:00 a.m. followed by an 11:30 a.m. battle with Nicholls State.

Follow the Bears

For complete coverage of Mercer Softball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerUSoftball (Twitter), /MUSoftball (Facebook) and @MercerUSoftball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.