CLERMONT, Fla. – The Haverford College softball team (2-6) played a trio of games on Friday, gathering one win from the three contests as weather related postponements forced teams gathered in the Orlando area to scramble for games before heading home to colder locales. The Fords opened the day with a 9-4 win against Bluffton. Haverford dropped the second game against Johnson and Wales 17-6. In the final game of the day, Haverford couldn't overcome an early deficit, losing to Wittenberg 8-5.
Alexa Finkele started on the mound and earned her first win of the season against Bluffton. The sophomore pitched five innings, allowing four runs, two earned while striking out one. First-year pitcher Rachel McQueen pitched the final two innings, only allowing one hit to close things out for Haverford.
The Fords and Bluffton ended the first inning tied at one. Haverford's run came on a wild pitch that Kaila Uyeda took advantage of, sprinting across home plate. However, the big inning came in the top of the third, where Haverford scored six runs in a single frame. First, Uyeda registered her second single on the day to get on base. Then, Nikki Kingsland brought her home with a home run to left field to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Fords. Following the home run, Mia Kessinger singled up the middle to get on base, allowing Abby Marquis to bring her home after an RBI double rapped into right-center field.
Haverford continued their scoring after Madison Hujber's RBI single to score Marquis. Emily Reinstadtler, Carina Whiting, and Carley Parsons all then got on base, leaving the bases loaded with two outs. The inning ended with Uyeda getting another at-bat with the bases loaded, placing a well-hit single down the right-field line. The RBI base knock would score both Whiting and Reinstadtler before Uyeda was tagged out at second base to end the inning.
The Fords scored two more runs in the remaining innings. Uyeda finished the game with three hits and three RBI while scoring two runs. Kingsland was prominent in the game, adding two hits and an RBI to her two-run home run. Marquis' work didn't go unnoticed as she registered four hits, scoring one run and an RBI.
Haverford struggled to get anything going offensively against a talented Johnson and Wales team in game two. Haverford found themselves down 9-1 at one point but battled back slightly in the fifth inning to make the score 9-5. However, the comeback would stop there as the Wildcats poured it on in the final innings, scoring 17 runs in the end. Stats for the game with the Wildcats are still being finalized.
Abby Marquis led the way for the Fords in the day's final game. The junior registered two hits and three RBI against Wittenberg, two coming in the fifth inning. Her RBI double to left-center drove in runs from Nikki Kingsland and Mia Kessinger. That big swing of the bat tied the game, but Wittenberg scored four runs in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead.
Haverford had one last shot at getting themselves back into the game, but a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth made things difficult. The Fords later scored a run with two outs in the seventh inning. Marquis drove in another run with an RBI double, but that is where things would come to a halt.
With spring break action coming to a close, the Fords will return to action Thursday, March 17, for a home doubleheader against Cabrini. The opening pitch is set for 3 p.m. for the first game, while the second is set for 5 p.m.