CLERMONT, Fl. – The North Park softball team dominated every single phase of the game on Monday night, as the Vikings minced Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts by a score of 11-1 before crushing Curry College by a score of 9-0. Everything Alyssa Aragon touched turned to gold as the star shortstop went 4-5 with four home runs and 14 RBIs on the day. Alyssa Malicki was equally as impressive in the circle, pitching a total of 8.0 innings allowing zero runs, on just three hits allowed, and 12 strikeouts.
Of course, it was far from a two-women show as Aragon continually capitalized on her teammates reaching base to bolster her monster RBI total, while Malicki was backed up by a defense that committed zero errors in all 12 innings of play Monday. In game one, Caitlyn Webb and Isa Santos both walked aboard only to be slammed home by Aragon with her first homer of the season making it a 3-0 game. Brigid Early then brought home Malicki on an error by the Trailblazers. RBI singles from Alli Patrick and Webb got the score up to 6-0 in favor of the Vikings. After Santos also got aboard, that left three ducks on the pond for Aragon to bring home with one swing of the bat to make it 10-0 on her second career grand slam. All of these runs came in the first inning.
This inning from Aragon marked a few record-breaking moments. It made her the seventh Viking ever to hit two home runs in a game (joining Malicki who did it last year), as well as making her the first ever NPU softball player to hit two homers in one inning. Not only that, but after just that one inning, she stands alone in school history with a record seven RBIs in a single game.
Patrick would take over on the rubber for the final four innings, allowing just one run on four hits, while Maddy Tan was able to score Debbie Dinkel on a sac fly in the third. After the top of the fifth, the game was called due to the 10-run advantage for NPU.
Final: North Park 11, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 1
Instead of a monster first inning for the Vikings, game two, this time taking on Curry College. was all about the last inning being an offensive outburst for North Park. NPU drew first blood in the third when, who else, but Aragon moonshot a ball over the fence to score Webb and Santos and make it 3-0. It was her third total home run of the day.
While the offense waited to strike again, the Colonels could get absolutely nothing going against Malicki in the circle. The star hurler only allowed two hits in the entire seven innings she pitched while striking out 11 Curry batters, en route to her complete game shutout. The total of 11 Ks is good for a tied NPU record for most strikeouts in a game. Malicki is also only the second ever Viking pitcher to reach double-digit strikeouts twice, as she had a ten strikeout game against Elmhurst in the CCIW tournament last season.
As fate would have it, Aragon would step up to the plate one more time for her mic drop moment in the top of the seventh as Tan, Webb, and Santos represented a bases loaded situation for the shortstop. Well, grandma broke out the rye bread and mustard, because once again it was grand salami time for Aragon as she belted another shot over the left center wall. The next batter, Rachael Feazelle, was clearly inspired by her predecessor and decided to get in on the action, launching a dinger of her own to join Aragon in the home run club. When Tan scored Brigid Early on a single a few batters later, the score had NPU with a distinctive nine run edge that they would end up winning by.
Final: North Park 9, Curry 0
Aragon's fourth homer makes her the first ever Viking softball player to hit two homers in a game twice in her career, as well as also allowing her to tie her own record (that she set in game one) for RBIs in a game with seven again. Needless to say, the 14 RBIs in a single day was also record book tally for Aragon.
What's Next?
North Park (2-2) stays down in the Sunshine State for another doubleheader day on Tuesday, March 15th. The Vikings take on Millsaps College at 1:45 PM CT while they take on Edgewood College at 4 PM CT.
