Jolson Diaz/Contributing Writer
The Panther softball squad took the series against the visiting Troy Trojans, winning two out of three games at the Softball Complex on April 14 and 15.
“I’m really proud of our girls, no matter what, they never give up, they showed some resilience and that doesn’t always work in our favor but we just kept battling back,” said Head Coach Jake Schumann. “But we were able to take the punch and give a couple of punches back.”
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Panthers (26-21, 9-8 SBC) attacked first. Senior Amber Curry started the bottom of the third inning with a solo shot to left center, making it her third of the season.
The Trojans (19-23, 7-7 SBC) answered back in the top of the fifth inning with a three-run homerun off the bat of senior Hannah Renn, putting them ahead 3-1.
Down 5-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, FIU senior Brie Rojas got the momentum going with a leadoff solo shot to left field. After intentionally walking senior Jessy Alfonso to load the bases, sophomore Krystal Garcia was able to reach thanks to a fielding error by the catcher, scoring sophomore Shelby Graves to even up the score 5-5.
Senior Kayla Burri then flied out to left, but another error by the left fielder on a cutoff throw allowed junior Rachel Slowik to score the game winning run as FIU pulled through winning 6-5.
In the second game of the double header, FIU once again wasted no time. The only runs of the game were scored in the bottom half of the first inning. After the first two batters reached, Graves hit a single bringing in Curry. A throwing error from the centerfielder allowed Brie Kay to score from first base.
Graves then would come around and score thanks to a sac fly by freshman Aleima Lopez putting the Panthers up 3-0.
It would stay like that throughout the rest of the game. Freshman pitcher Corinne Jenkins (13-5) picked up her team leading 13th victory, shutting out the Trojans allowing only two hits and striking out four batters.
“Honestly this week I just focused on relaxing, I have had a bad couple of last outings so I just keep trying to tell myself it’s a game of failure,” said Jenkins. “You can’t be a champion without failing. So I just tried to relax and do I was doing at the beginning of the season which I thought helped me out.”
For the Sunday afternoon game the Panthers once again pounced first. Rojas singled in Curry giving FIU the early 1-0 lead.
In the fifth inning Troy was able to even the score 3-3, Kayla Burri was unable to handle a pop fly with the bases loaded and one out. The Trojans would cap the win after a pair of RBI singles, defeating FIU 6-5.
The Panthers threatened to come back in the bottom of the seventh inning, bringing the score 5-4 after an RBI double by Jessy Alfonso but was unable to complete the sweep, falling 5-4.
FIU will next travel to FAU to play the Owls tonight at 6 p.m.
