NKU Box Score
FSU Box Score

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The Shippensburg University softball team continued its participation from the 2010 Rebel Spring Games on a sunny and windy Wednesday but dropped a 3-2 decision in nine innings to Northern Kentucky and a 6-0 decision to Ferris State from the Oren Brown Softball Complex.

Shippensburg (3-10) matched toe-to-toe with the Norse of Northern Kentucky in its opener on Wednesday and entered extra innings tied 1-1. Sophomore second baseman Abby Block got the Lady Raiders on the board in the fourth inning with an RBI single down the left-field line that scored junior Dana Ward, who originally reached on an infield single.

Despite six walks, Ward pitched out of several jams with some solid pitching. She stranded two runners in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings; recording back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth to stave off a rally in which NKU got runners on second and third base with just one out. Overall, Ward allowed just one earned run and tallied a season-high nine strikeouts in 8.2 innings of work.

The intelligent base running of freshman Kiersten Darhower helped Shippensburg take a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning after international tiebreaker rules had set in. Darhower took over on the base paths for sophomore Meg Lehman and made a great one-out read on a bouncing ball in the dirt to advance on a wild pitch.

In the same at-bat, junior Jill Mullan ripped a line drive to short left field that was caught but resulted in a sacrifice fly after Darhower's foot-first slide grazed home plate while the throw home never stuck in the catcher's glove.

Northern Kentucky (7-6) ripped a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the score at 2-2. Shippensburg escaped another jam with a double play, as a bases loaded quandary was erased after junior right fielder Hope Cornell caught a fly ball and zipped a throw home to Lehman, who tagged out the advancing runner.

In the top of the ninth, Ward advanced to third base with just one out after a perfect sacrifice bunt by senior first baseman Lisamarie Ramagli. Unfortunately, an infield pop and a flyout ended the inning. The Norse scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth for the win.

Ferris State (8-5) scored three runs off Ward in the first inning of Shippensburg's second game and never looked back. Sophomore Chelsea Kendall entered the circle in the second inning and finished the game, allowing three hits while striking out five batters in six total innings of work. After a tough third inning, Kendall retired 10 consecutive batters and finished the game by retiring 13 of the final 15 batters that came to the plate.

Overall at the plate, Ward was the only player with multiple hits on the day for Shippensburg (2-for-7) but struck out three times. Six Lady Raiders hit singles on Wednesday while Ramagli and junior Moira Johnsen each had both a hit and a walk.

The Lady Raiders are scheduled to play a pair of games on Thursday – the first will be at 3 p.m. against No. 21 C.W. Post and the second will be at 5 p.m. against Seton Hill.