March 17, 2015 Iona Box Score
Fairleigh Dickinson Box Score
2015 Schedule | Inside LMU Softball | LMU on Facebook |
LOS ANGELES - LMU softball returned home to Smith Field in style Tuesday, earning 2-0 and 8-0 shutouts of Iona and Fairleigh Dickinson behind solid pitching and timely home runs.
Freshman Caitlin Harman provided the heroics in the opening game against the Iona Gaels, launching her first collegiate home run and finishing with two of LMU's three hits in a true pitcher's duel. With Alicia Brown on base after drawing a walk, Harman sent the first pitch she saw long over the left field fence, giving the Lions a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
That would be all the scoring the Lions would get in the game, but it would be all pitcher Rachael Farrington would need. The sophomore allowed just three hits, struck out four and did not issue a walk in seven complete innings.
Against the FDU Knights, it would be Stephanie Crist's turn to toss a complete-game victory. The junior struck out one, walked one and scattered six hits in six innings.
The Lions' bats woke up as well as they pounded out 13 hits for eight runs. RBI hits by Brown and Rachel Williams, and a bases loaded, RBI hit-by-pitch by Aria Pogni made it 3-0 LMU through one inning. A two-run homer by Alex Finie in the fifth made it 5-0 and the Lions would score three more times in the sixth to end the game an inning short thanks to the eight-run mercy rule.
Williams finished 3-for-4 at the plate while Brown, Finie and Amanda Dirks had two hits apiece.
The weeklong homestand continues Wednesday as the Lions host Buffalo at 12 pm and Harvard at 2 p.m. The Bulls and Crimson will start the day with a neutral site game beginning at 10 a.m. The LMU/Muscle Milk Invitational begins Thursday, March 19 and runs through Monday, March 23. Tickets are on sale now for the tournament by clicking here.
