Contact: Sam Fretto, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu

CLERMONT, Fla. (Mar. 12, 2025)- The North Central College softball team split their games on day five of THE Spring Games. Two homers powered the Cardinals (5-5) over Rhode Island College, 8-5, but the Cardinals fell to Wesleyan (Conn.) by a score of 8-3 Wednesday at Hancock Park. 

A solo home run from Kayla Crabtree got the Cardinals on the board in the bottom of the second. An inning later, North Central added two more thanks to a 2-run home run by Sarah Lynch, which scored Gracie Vlach. By the fifth inning, the Anchorwomen (4-4) had cut into the lead, 3-2, with an RBI double and sacrifice fly. The Cardinals were able to tack on insurance in the bottom of the fifth. Hailey Morsovillo recorded an RBI single, scoring Bailey Miller, who led off the fifth with a single. One batter later, Rachael Madsen plated Talia Torosian with an RBI single for the 5-2 lead. 

A 3-run blast in the top of the sixth inning knotted the game up at 5-5 before the Cardinals retook the lead in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Lynch hit a sacrifice fly to right field to retake the lead 6-5. North Central put away the Anchorwomen with a Torosian RBI sacrifice bunt and a Morosvillo RBI single, giving the Cardinals an 8-5 advantage.

Game one was shown to be a game of high offensive output with Vlach going 3-for-3 with two runs scored, Lynch driving in three RBIs with a homer, and Crabtree going 2-for-2 with a solo home run. Taylor Warren started the game but got a no decision after going five innings pitched and four earned runs given up. Juliana Maude came in relief and got the win to move her record to 2-2 this season.

Game two got out of hand for North Central, allowing eight unanswered runs across three innings after starting the game with a 1-0 lead. The Wesleyan (Conn.) Cardinals (4-0) took an 8-1 lead going into the top of the seventh, where North Central tacked on two runs with a Ronnie Latka two-RBI single scoring Lauren Bowmar and Madsen for the 8-3 final.

Sam Schilf got through three innings, giving up five runs, with only one of them being charged to her. Maude and Warren combined to get the final nine outs, striking out four. 

North Central takes the field again. Thursday, Mar. 13 for a pair of games against Alfred University with a 2 p.m. (ET) first pitch scheduled and Montclair State University with a 4:30 p.m. (ET) first pitch. Click HERE for the full schedule.

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