Triceratops close regular season with split against CCBC Catonsville

CATONSVILLE, Md. (athletics.tri-c.edu) – In the final series of the regular season and the team's Maryland trip, the Cuyahoga Community College Triceratops (30-6, 16-1 OCCAC) split with the Community College of Baltimore County Catonsville Cardinals (20-18-1, 11-4-1 MD JUCO), 9-5 and 11-5, April 28.

The Triceratops continued their hot streak in game one with seven runs in the first two innings, led by two different RBI singles by Lexi Gray (So./Tallmadge, Ohio/Baldwin-Wallace) and strong hitting from Reese Adkins (So./Oak Harbor, Ohio). In the circle, Julee Phillips (So./Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio) continued authoring her Pitcher of the Year candidate season with 3.2 innings pitch with eight strikeouts and only one earned run surrendered.

CCBC Catonsville enjoyed the hot start in game two with seven runs of their own in the first two innings. But the Triceratops didn't give up and pulled the game back to a two-run 7-5 deficit in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, the gap was too much, and the Cardinals capitalized in the bottom of the sixth to claim an 11-5 victory. It was the Triceratops' first loss on the road this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Game One

• The Triceratopskicked the game off with a bang, with the first five hitters reaching base successfully. In that stretch, Gray got the scoring started with an RBI single. The streak was broken by a Josi Miliken (Fr./Beloit, Ohio) groundout that scored Adkins, but the Triceratops got hot again with an Adriana Guarnieri (Fr./Chillicothe, Ohio) RBI single and Isabelle Kepple (So./Miamisburg, Ohio) scoring on a throwing error by the Cardinals' catcher.
• A second Catonsville error came back to bite the Cardinals, as Adkins was able to score on the miscue off Kepple's bat. An RBI single by Miliken and aggressive baserunning by Alex Greenauer (Fr./North Canton, Ohio) to score when the Cardinals tried to catch Miliken stealing second pushed the Triceratops lead to 7-0 in the top of the second.
• The Triceratops added another run in the top of the third off of Gray's third RBI of the game, pushing the lead to 8-0.
• The Cardinals struck with their first run of the series courtesy of an Alana Watts solo home run in the home half of the third, trimming the Triceratops lead to 8-1.
• After Jayliana Wilt (Fr./Youngstown, Ohio) took over for Phillips, the home Cardinals were able to string together some offense in the bottom of the fifth, scoring a run off a hit by pitch and a bases-clearing double to shrink the Triceratops lead to 8-5.
• An Aaliyah Thammachak (Fr./Stow, Ohio) single in the top of the seventh drove in an insurance run to put the Triceratops up 9-5 for good.

Game Two

• In game two, it was the Cardinals that started hot, taking a 5-0 lead in the first inning on a single, passed ball, ground out and walk.
• Just like the Triceratops in game one, CCBC Catonsville pushed their lead to a huge 7-0 margin in the second with an RBI hit by pitch and by taking advantage of a Tri-C error.
• You can never count out the Triceratops, though. Tri-C started to mount their comeback in the fourth inning, narrowing the game to 7-4. The rally got started with a Braelyn Boguski (Fr./Parma, Ohio) sacrifice fly, then saw a Sophie Durbin (So./Mansfield, Ohio/Mount Vernon Nazarene) double, an Adkins single and a triple by Riley Sebera (Fr./Parma, Ohio) to score their four runs.
• Tri-C drew ever closer in the sixth when Adkins grounded into an RBI fielder's choice to trim the deficit to 7-5.
• The comeback effort was short-lived, though. The Cardinals put up four runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to take the final, decisive 11-5 lead.

UP NEXT

Today's doubleheader marked the end of the regular season. The Triceratops will now prepare for the NJCAA Great Lakes District A Tournament, May 6-8 at the Marathon Diamond Fields in Findlay, Ohio.

The tournament field is not set, but the Triceratops have earned the Number One seed in the district. They will kick off the postseason May 6 at 1:15 p.m. with the opponent coming from the winner of Game One between Muskegon and the third place finisher from the Michigan Community College Athletic Association.

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