CLERMONT, Fla. - Head Coach Meredith Mills secured her 100
th career win this morning as the Vikings defeated Lake Forest College, but then fell to Alfred University.
Game One (Berry 8 - Lake Forest 0):
The combination of
Hannah Gore defensively in the circle for the Vikings and
Lauren Cothern at the plate was something the Foresters were not ready for.
Gore went all five innings allowing on two hits with seven strikeouts while
Lauren Cothern was 2-2 at the plate with two homeruns and 5 RBIs.
The game finally got going early this morning after a short delay. With Gore in the circle, she allowed one hit in the top of the first inning, but got out of it before Lake Forest could do any damage with two left on base. Cothern started things out early in the bottom of the inning with
Ava Fouts on from a walk, Lauren bombed it over the center field fence for the Vikings first two runs.
Hannah returned to the circle for three consecutive strikeouts to crush the second inning. In the bottom of the third, Berry got things popping again with Fouts reaching on a walk,
Kennedy Moody doubled to left center to bring her in and Cothern's sacrifice fly scored Moody before the Vikings would see a new pitcher.
Up 4-0 Berry topped it off with a five hit four run inning in the bottom of the fourth with another two-run homerun from Cothern after Fouts one run double and a single from
Paige Bennett that also scored a run. Now at 8-0, Gore headed back to the circle one last time to take the game in five innings.
Game Two (Alfred 10 - Berry 2):
It was
Ava Fouts to start in the circle for Berry in game two, throwing three innings allowing three hits and four runs until
Casey Holloway entered in relief to throw the last 1.2 innings.
At the plate,
Elly Bennett had the most notable performance with two doubles in the game going 2-3 scoring 1 run.
Everything was quiet through the top of the third inning with only a few hits allowed on each side. In the bottom of the third, Alfred found a way to push one run across on two hits and two walks.
With Alfred on top, Berry headed to the plate to answer that run with two of their own as
Elly Bennett doubled to left field and
Erica Bennett moved her to third on a single.
Cara Holland scored both Bennett's on a single through the left side to hop up 2-1.
A big fourth inning came for Alfred with three runs on one hit and one error. Berry now needed to claw back, but only had one opportunity to do so in the top of the fifth as Alfred exploded in the bottom of the inning to end the game with six more runs on five hits and an error before going up eight to run-rule the Vikings.
Berry will return to the field for senior day back at home on March 22 to open up SAA play against Hendrix.
