OMAHA, Neb. - Senior Taylor Fitch homered twice to keep Seattle University softball (14-17) within striking distance of victory, but the Redhawks could not battle back after holding an early lead, narrowly falling 7-6 to Creighton (16-18) to open the three game series against the Bluejays at Creighton Softball Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Fitch went for three hits, including two home runs, and three RBI in four at bats. She became the second Redhawk this season with two home runs in a contest, matching senior Ava Sin. Sin homered twice against North Dakota in early February. It is the 14th time in program history that a Redhawk has recorded two home runs in a single game.
Two more Redhawks went for multiple hits, with sophomore Abbie Fales collecting her second home run in as many games. She finished the day with two hits and two runs in three at bats. Junior Sophia Kissling recorded two hits and led the team defensively from center field. She grabbed four putouts.
Five Redhawks recorded hits with junior Karen Spadafora and junior Avari Morris each tallying doubles. Graduate Jay Ross posted a hit and scored a run, matching Kissling with four putouts but from first. Fitch assisted the defense with a team leading five assists from third base.
Guiding from the circle and earning the start was freshman Kaia Galaviz. She tossed 30 innings and faced 15 batters while striking out one. Junior Berkley Vance pitched the remaining 3.0 innings and faced 15 batters.
The Redhawks combined for .400 batting, recording six runs on 12 hits. They limited Creighton to eight hits on the day and three scoreless innings.
After both teams went scoreless in the first, including a three up, three down inning for Galaviz, the Redhawks struck first in the top of the second. Following a single from Ross, Spadafora’s double put two within scoring position with no outs, allowing senior Brooklyn Jones to score Ross from third with a sac fly. Galaviz capped the second inning with her strikeout.
Morris got two second with her double to put a runner in scoring position in the third with one out for Fitch. Fitch lifted the Redhawks to a 3-0 lead behind her 2 RBI homer, her 11th of the season. The Bluejays responded with three unearned runs in the bottom of the third following a pair of SU errors to start the inning.
Seattle U went back ahead in the top of the fourth after Fales, Jones and Kissling went for three straight singles to load the bases with one out. Junior Mikee Morris nabbed the RBI sac fly to score Fales to lead 4-3. Creighton came back with its tying run in the bottom of the fourth.
The Bluejays built their largest lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs for their first lead of the day. Fales came back with the first response with her solo shot homer in the top of the sixth to make it a two run game, but Creighton disrupted the momentum to leave Kissling stranded following her single. Vance and the Redhawks made quick work in the sixth to keep it 7-5 entering the seventh.
With one out, Fitch blasted her second home run of the contest out of right field to pull the Redhawks within one, but the Bluejays would stump SU’s comeback to take game one 7-6.
The Redhawks return to action tomorrow afternoon for game two. Action is set for noon PT with streaming available on ESPN+.
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