Despite the rainfall that canceled Friday’s game against Illinois State, the Lady Rattlers went into Saturday’s game against the Minnesota State Gophers with a shut out victory of 5-0. The Gophers, one of the Top 10 Schools in the NCAA Division IA gave the Lady Rattlers high confidence going into the weekend tournaments.
“Being ready to play Friday transcended into Saturday game victory over Minnesota State,” said freshman team manager Sherry Tillman, a Health Science student from Winter Haven, Florida.
Saturday’s game against Minnesota State began with the Lady Rattler’s early hitting and aggressive defense by sophomore pitcher, Danielle Brown who pitched the entire game.
First baseman Elisha Scott commented on sophomore pitcher Danielle Brown stating how Danielle came out Saturday focused and on her game up until the end.”
“Her pitching was on point leaving the hitting and scoring up to the rest of the team,” added Scott
Later going into game two against Louisville, the Lady Rattlers began the game strong with an in the park home run by center fielder, Ruby Nugent. The Lady Rattlers created a close and well played game against Louisville, coming just short of a victory and finishing with a 7-4 lost.
“Our goal was to go out and play as well or if not better than our last game. Although we lost, we still gained a victory in other places,” said Tillman
Rolling into Sunday’s first game against Illinois State, the Lady Rattlers performance was good yet sluggish in hits once more
“We needed to get more aggressive at bat and on the field. If only we took the initiative to swing the bat at the first strike maybe then our score would have been different,” said Tillman.
The Illinois State 3- 0 victory lead the Lady Rattlers into their final game against backyard rivals Florida State.
Although the Lady Rattlers scored in the first ending, the tables turned as the Lady Rattlers failed to keep up on defense giving away unearned runs to Florida State.
Already ahead of the Lady Rattlers, Florida State scored six runs in the third inning making the final score of 9-1, a devastating loss for the Lady Rattlers.
“After scoring first we were later dominated by Florida State’s better rip on the ball,” commented Scott.
Although the Lady Rattlers ratio of wins to losses this weekend was out of their favor, they ended the weekend on a positive note.
“Although we didn’t win much, the team showed a lot of heart which is essential to our goals this year,” said Tillman.
Contact Christina Hordge at christinahordge@yahoo.com