Florida A&M fell into the loser’s bracket of the 2008 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Softball Tournament as they dropped 6-5 decision to Howard University in the opening round of the Tourney, Thursday afternoon at the Ormond Beach Softball Complex.
FAMU (15-39) finished with eight hits paced by both Rhianna Green and Melissa Oliphant with two hits.
Howard (22-15) finished with a game-high 13 hits led by Brianna Gutierrez, who went four-for-four from the plate, followed by Kristina Cordova, Emily Johnson, and Jessica Norwood with two hits each.
Dale McNeal (12-9) got the win for the Lady Bison going the distance, allowing eight hits, three earned runs and striking out seven in seven innings, while Tiffany Chan (8-19) took the loss for the Lady Rattlers, allowing six hits, six earned runs and striking out four in five and two-third innings.
FAMU grabbed the early lead in the top of the first, as Nikki Terryn scored from second on an Ashley Smith single, then Smith would score on a Alacia Strafford double for a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Rattlers increased their lead in the top of the third as Oliphant scored on an HU infielder’s error, followed by a Chan single scoring Smith from third, making the score 4-0.
Howard picked up a trio of runs in the bottom of the third, to cut FAMU’s lead to 4-3. Gutierrez scored on a Cordova sacrifice fly to right field for a 4-1 score. Then both Courtney Young and Mya Spencer would score on a Candice Tatum double to make the count 4-3.
FAMU picked up another run in the top of the fourth as Rhianna Green scored on an Oliphant single, increasing the Lady Rattlers’ lead to 5-3.
The Lady Bison made the score 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth as Cordova singled to third scoring Emily Johnson.
HU scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth for the 6-5 final as both Young and Gutierrez scored on a Cordova double.
FAMU will face North Carolina A&T in an elimination game at 4:30 p.m., while HU will face Bethune-Cookman in a winner’s bracket match-up at 7 p.m.
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