CLERMONT, Fl. – The North Park softball team split their games on Thursday, defeating Beloit College by a score of 11-4, only to come up short in a 6-5 contest against Endicott College in the following game.
The offense had no trouble in game one as the Vikings scored in each of the final five inning versus the Buccaneers. Isa Santos brought in the initial run on an RBI single in the third. After the Bucs responded with one of their own, it was Alyssa Malicki that continued her hot streak at the plate with a two-run homer and an RBI double in her next two at-bats. A run scoring single from Rachael Feazelle in between those two Malicki hits meant it stood at 5-1 Vikings.
Two Beloit runs made it a ballgame again, but North Park would essentially put it to rest in the top of the sixth. Santos cranked a triple that scored two of her teammates to start the run, before a Alyssa Aragon sac fly, a bases loaded walk, and a bases loaded hit by pitch made it 10-3 in the blink of an eye. An Alli Patrick RBI single canceled out the final Bucs run as NPU would win by seven.
Feazelle went the distance for the Vikings and picked up the complete game win. She allowed six hits and struck out one.
Final: North Park 11, Beloit 4
The Vikings fell early in game two, but nearly pulled off a dramatic comeback to push their winning streak to six. Instead, they fell just short in a 6-5 decision with Endicott. Down 4-0 in the bottom of the third, Aragon erased the goose egg with an RBI single to make it 4-1. In the top of the fifth, the Gulls would tack on two more to set the stage for the rally need from NPU.
Again, Aragon came up big for North Park, as the shortstop belted a two-bagger that score Caitlyn Webb. Feazelle followed that up with an RBI groundout before Malicki would score Aragon on a single. Another run-scoring single from Malicki in the seventh would cut the North Park deficit to one and put Feazelle in scoring position representing the equalizing run at second. Unfortunately, the Gulls slammed the door, and the Vikings could not pull off their sixth straight victory.
Final: Endicott 6, North Park 5
What's Next?
North Park (5-3) has one more gameday in Florida on Friday, March 18. They will take on Ripon College (1-13) at 1:15 PM CT and Lawrence University (0-8) at 3:30 PM CT.
