CLERMONT, Fla. - On the twilight of their Florida trip, the University of Mary Softball team took on the University of Southern Indiana and West Liberty University in the second to last day of their annual trip to the Dot Richardson Spring Games.
 
The Marauders (10-14) fought back against Southern Indiana (11-1) but ended up losing 8-4, yet they rebounded with a solid 9-6 win over West Liberty as both games had their share of questionable calls from the officiating crew.
 
U-Mary got a dose of their own medicine in the first inning against the Eagles as Toni Braun stole second on a delayed steal to draw the throw from the cather and the runner at third, MacKenzi Dorsam scored on the throw. They got on more with a fielder's choice bunt to score Braun and finally got three more with a home run to straight away centerfield, putting the Marauders in an early 5-0 hole heading into the bottom of the first.
 
Taylor Mendez got one back for U-Mary as she sent a pitch over the right center fence in the second inning, and Kristin Ormsby narrowed the lead down to 5-3 after a double down the left field line scored Alana Norman and Alexandra McDermott in the third inning.
 
A slew of singles from the Eagles put the score back at 8-3 over the course of two innings and the Marauders were only able to cut it down to 8-4 with another deep shot from Mendez to right center.
 
The controversy in the first game came from McDermott's at bat with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the third base umpire called her out on a foul bunt when in fact she was swinging the bat on a slap attempt. The score may not have been impacted but the obscure call from a field umpire, who is not responsible for the call, left a bitter taste in the Marauder's mouth as they lost the first game 8-4.
 
Mendez's two hits were both home runs and added two RBI in the game.
 
McDermott got two hits as well, both singles, and also scored a run for U-Mary.
 
U-Mary kept their head up with a game against West Liberty coming up and found themselves down early again as Damie Mogielski got a two-run home run to left field to put the score at 2-0 heading into the bottom of the first inning.
 
The Marauders got one back as Julissa Perales got a single down the left field line that scored Norman, and U-Mary took the lead in the bottom of the second when McDermott scored on a wild pitch and Erin Keen ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly from Francine Villalobos to right field to put the score at 3-2.
 
The first piece of controversy came when the coach for West Liberty tried to appeal at third base on Keen leaving early, but neither umpire made a call, and the coach ended up voicing his disagreement. Despite the pause in play, the Marauders still had a 3-2 lead heading into the third inning.
 
U-Mary got one more run to extend the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the third when Nena Dudley score Perales off an RBI groundout and the Marauders went into the fourth with the lead.
 
The Hilltoppers climbed back into the game in the top of the fourth inning when Savanna Seiger homered to right field, scoring three runs and putting U-Mary on the bad end of a 5-4 deficit. The Marauders were able to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth when Ormsby reached on an error and ended up scoring Nicole O'Haver.
 
U-Mary finally broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth as Villalobos, O'Haver, and Norman all reached on based off small ball with Francine and Nicole reaching on bunts while Alana reached on a slap hit and beat out the throw from the pitcher. With bases loaded an nobody out, Ormsby got the ball rolling with an RBI single to right field that scored Villalobos; Perales drew a walk that moved O'Haver across the plate; Mendez singled to center field that allowed Norman to score; and Colleen Crutchfield capped off the rally with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Ormsby and put the score at 9-5 heading into the final inning.
 
The Hilltoppers started off with a groundball out but Kelsi Johnson drew a walk and Nicki Mihalik singled to right center and put runners at second and third.
 
It should be noted that the hit from Mihalik was well in the gap that could've scored Johnson, but the batted ball was cut off beautifully by Norman, who was playing centerfield, and kept the runner at second to lead into the second controversial call of the game.
 
Julie Tenney sent a groundball to Mendez, who was at shortstop, and Johnson was called out on runner's interference for the second out of the inning. Johnson came into contact with Mendez, which interfered with her attempt on the groundball and potentially cost the Hiltoppers a run in the game.
 
West Liberty was able to get one more run to cut the lead to 9-6 but by then the wind was out of their sails and the Marauders got a win in the second game of the day.
 
Norman got three hits in the second game with two stolen bases and two runs, maintaining her production over the course of this past week.
 
Perales got two hits in the game with a double, two RBI, one walk, and a stolen base.
 
O'Haver was a perfect 2-of-2 with two runs, one walk, and a stolen base in the game.
 
The Marauders wrap up their Spring Break trip tomorrow with games against the University of Indianapolis and Kutztown University starting at 4:00 p.m., CDT.
 
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