Rhode Island Starters
Hernandez (CF); Morris (LF); Bulinski (C); Knarr (1B); Power (3B); Torres (SS); Vale-Cruz (DP); Orndorff (RF); Miller (2B); Zaun (P)
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Dayton Starters
Schutter (CF); Bailey (SS); Kapsimalis (2B); Wong (3B); Flaherty (DP); Linneman (P); Goodwin (C); Grace (1B); Justice (LF); O'Donnell (RF/Flex)
How It Happened
Dayton (14-10, 5-1 A-10) steadily added to its lead throughout the game as it took the rubber game of the series, beating Rhode Island (6-15, 2-4 A-10) 8-1 Sunday afternoon.
After the visiting Flyers got one run in in the top of the first, the Rams came right back in the bottom of the first. While Rhody got one run in, it could have been more. Leadoff hitter
Hannah Hernandez appeared to reach on a bunt, but she was ruled out for runner's interference after a conference among the umpires. This came back to hurt as Rhody got a walk from
Ella Morris, and back-to-back singles from
Kylie Bulinski and
Katie Knarr to knot the score.
The visiting Flyers scored a pair of unearned runs in the third inning. Addy Justice reached on a dropped fly ball. Then URI was unable to field a high popped up foul off the bat of Emma Schutter. Given a second life, Schutter reached on a single. Rather than two outs and nobody on, Dayton had two on and nobody out. A fielder's choice, walk and line out had the bases loaded with two down before Deirdre Flaherty singled up the middle to bring two in for a 3-1 lead. Another two-run rally in the fourth padded the lead and made it 5-1.
In the top of the seventh, Schutter dropped a bases-loaded double down the left field line, clearing the bases and extending the lead to 8-1, essentially icing the victory.
Inside the Box Scores
- Junior Kylie Bulinski had a double and a single. The single just missed being a home run, as the ball went off the right field wall after being knocked down by windy conditions at the URI Softball Complex.
- Freshman Katie Knarr had her team-leading sixth multi-hit game of the season. She singled twice and drove in the lone Rhody run.
- Freshman Ella Morris walked and scored URI's run.
- Sophomore Sydney Orndorff singled and walked in three plate appearances.
- Sophomore Avery Vale-Cruz had one single.
Up Next
Rhode Island and is scheduled to play a doubleheader at Providence Wednesday, March 26, though expected inclement weather may force the games to be moved up to Tuesday, March 25. Any schedule changes will be posted to GoRhody.com.
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