FORT MYERS, Fla. – The pitching trifecta of Maddy Coppens, Amanda Meister, and Shannon Whitmus allowed one unearned run in 14 innings and the defense did the rest to lift the Edgewood College softball team past Curry College, 2-1, and SUNY Canton, 5-0, on Monday afternoon. Meister also belted a 2-run home run, the first of her career, as the Eagles (8-4) matched their best start since 2014.
Coppens, Meister, and Whitmus combined for four strikeouts and gave way to a lock down defense that seemed to turn every ball in play into an out. Their only blemish was a ground ball error against Curry that allowed them to score their only run, but besides that every fielder got involved.
Freshman Laurissa Belott continued her torrid attack at the dish by extending her hit streak to 12 games to open her career. After striking out in her first at bat, the versatile infielder posted hits in five straight plate appearances, including a 3-for-3 performance with two doubles in win over SUNY Canton. Belott leads the Eagles with a .537 batting average for an Eagle team that is hitting .323 on the year.
Curry (0-3) jumped out to a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the top of the first after their leadoff batter reached on a fielding error. The Eagle counter attack would wait until the fifth inning and two outs to get going.
The freshmen quartet of Hanna Fisher, Maddie Minik, Belott, and Callie Ziegler hit four straight singles to take the lead and conclude the scoring. Belott's hit the game-tying RBI single to right field and Ziegler followed with the go-ahead single by using her speed to beat out the shortstop's throw.
Meister started and gave up only one run (unearned) and two hits over four innings and was relieved by Whitmus (3-2), who earned her third win of the year with three scoreless frames in relief.
Maddy Coppens (3-0), who has allowed just three earned runs in 16.1 innings and leads the team with a 1.29 ERA, tossed five scoreless innings and retired 10 straight batters near the end of her run in a 5-0 victory over SUNY Canton. She allowed only three hits and struck out two and let Whitmus finish it out with two scoreless innings.
After allowing opponents to score first in each of the last three games, it was the Eagles that jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Ziegler knocked an RBI single to score Belott after her leadoff double and later scored on Meister's RBI single to the left side.
The Eagles would add three more on a blustery afternoon with the wind blowing out. Meister took advantage in the top of the fifth with a 2-run bomb to left center to finish the scoring. The offense finished with 11 hits and improved to 7-0 when outhitting opponents.
The new look Eagles are 7-1 in Florida and have already surpassed their six wins accumulated in Florida in 2014. They are currently hitting .346 with 21 walks against only 13 strikeouts at the plate and carry a 2.83 ERA and two shutouts.
Edgewood College will team up with the Eagles baseball team and men's golf teams to complete a volunteer project on Tuesday in Fort Myers before concluding their trip with a doubleheader against Wilmington and Swarthmore in Naples on Wednesday.
