Melbourne, Fla. – Aquinas ended its Florida trip on a high note as the softball team posted two more games in the win column today (Mar. 16). The Saints got the best of the Florida National Conquistadors, winning both games by small margins. This result puts Aquinas on another three-game win streak and has AQ sitting at 16-4 right before the conference season.
Game 1: Aquinas 6, Florida National 2
A one-out triple from
Kim Sosnowski kickstarted some early-game momentum for the Saints.
Katie Carlson hit her home with two outs to put the first run on the board.
Haley Myers joined her on base with a single of her own and
Alexa Kownacki hit them both home with a bases-clearing double for an early 3-0 lead.
The Saints struck again in the top of the fourth inning as
Carson Hendrickson, MaKayla Mott, and Sosnowski all singled to load up the bases.
Courtney Hardin delivered a clutch double to left field to bring all three runners home, putting six runs on the board for AQ.
FNU responded with two runs on two hits and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth, but that would be the last time either team scored.
Leah Vaughan allowed just two more hits over the next three innings to close out a 6-2 victory.
Vaughan continues to shine as she returns to a regular role in the pitching rotation. The senior pitched all seven innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs with a trio of strikeouts.
After appearing in just two games in 2023, Vaughan has already appeared in five games this season. She is now 3-0 with a season ERA of 0.82.
Game 2: Aquinas 4, Florida National 3
The Saints put a runner on third in the bottom of the first inning, but it was the Conquistadors that were first to score. Three singles in the third put FNU ahead by one run.
After putting just one runner on base over the first three innings, AQ finally got the offense going in the fourth inning.
Emma Houseman and Hardin singled before Carlson walked to load up the bases with no outs. Mott hit Houseman home on a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one. Then, RBI singles from
Jessica Dobias and
Kaelyn Stafford put the Saints up by two runs.
That lead was short-lived as a defensive error from Aquinas led to two Florida National runs to tie the game up at 3-3.
The game continued on into the seventh inning with both teams playing stingy defense. Florida National hit two singles in the top of the seventh, but
Grace Maguire got out of the situation unscathed, giving the offense the change to win the game in the bottom of the inning.
Stafford got on base with a leadoff walk and then stole second to immediately have a runner in scoring position. Just two at-bats later, a massive error from the Conquistadors allowed Stafford to get home for the walk-off win.
Maguire improved to 6-1 on the season with another complete-game performance.
By the Numbers
The Saints tallied 15 hits over the two games with 10 different Saints recording at least one hit. Sosnowski, Hardin, Hendrickson, Carlson, and Mott all posted two hits.
Hardin (3), Kownacki (2), Dobias (1), Stafford (1), Carlson (1), and Mott (1) were responsible for the nine RBIs.
Up Next
AQ returns home following a busy 14-game week in Florida with a 10-4 record in that time span. Aquinas doesn't have too long to rest as the Saints are set to take on Calumet in Indiana on Tuesday (Mar. 19), starting at 3:00 p.m.
