Roosevelt Suffers Heartbreak In Twinbill Setbacks

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Roosevelt suffered two close losses Friday in a long doubleheader at the NAIA Leadoff Tournament hosted at the Dome at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont.

The Lakers (1-3) began the day against Cleary and the bats showed up ready for action. Scout Kram worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first before Anaisa Lozada put down a perfect bunt for a single. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch to set up Brynn Dvoracek with runners in scoring position. The sophomore drilled a single down the left-field line to drive in a pair of runs in the opening frame.

Seren Horton made her first career start against the Cougars and set down the lineup in order in each of the first two innings. However, the freshman ran into trouble in the third and allowed five straight hits and three runs before Kate Sisson came out of the bullpen in relief. The senior limited by inducing three outs from the next three batters, but one of those hitters hit a sacrifice fly to put the Lakers down 4-2.

Undeterred, the Lakers struck right back with a run in the bottom half of the inning with Kram scoring off a single from Kirstin Fudge. Kram finished the game 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored as the top half of the lineup produced eight of Roosevelt's 10 hits in the game and drove in all three runs. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the 4-3 deficit was as close as they would after Cleary tacked on another run in the fourth inning.

Roosevelt had a chance to start some two-out magic in the sixth inning after Bailee Reynolds and Samantha Norman smacked back-to-back singles. However, Reynolds was caught taking too big of a swing around second on Norman's hit and was thrown out trying to get back to second base. The Lakers then put runners on first and second with one out before a fielder's choice and a hard lineout to left field ended the game.

It didn't get much easier for the Lakers in the night game against Northwestern as Roosevelt lost on a walk-off bloop single in the ninth inning. Sisson came back on in relief for the ninth inning after starting the game, and induced a popout on a bunt and a grounder back to her in the circle. With two outs and the extra runner on third, Sisson's pitch barely made contact with the Northwestern hitter's bat and the shallow popup proved to be tricky. Emily Zuniga charged in from her spot at second base and dove for the ball, but came just inches short of extending the game into the 10th after an extraordinary effort.

Extra innings proved to be the complete opposite of the first seven innings. The Raiders had just two hits off Roosevelt's pitching in regulation, both of which came in the second inning when they scored their only run. The Lakers scattered five hits across the first seven innings, though three came consecutively in the third inning to help them tie the game. Zuniga started the rally with an infield single to the shortstop then advanced to third on Dvoracek's single up the middle. Lozada then brought Zuniga home with another single up the middle.

Roosevelt wasted no time getting its offense going with the runner starting extra innings on second base to put all the pressure on the Raiders. Zuniga did her job to advance Kram to third base and Dvoracek hit a sacrifice fly to score Kram. Then the two-out rally really began as Lozada drew a walk then promptly stole second base. Reynolds drove her in with a single down the right-field line, and Reynolds then subsequently scored on Norman's single after a throwing error from the right fielder.

Northwestern needed three to extend the game into the ninth and Norman quickly walked the bases loaded to start the bottom of the eighth. The Raiders hit a pair of infield singles to cut the deficit to 4-3 before the Lakers were able to get an out at home plate for the first out of the inning. It was then Roosevelt suffered its first heartbreak as it thought it successfully rolled the winning double-play only for the umpire to call the runner safe at first. Norman then retired the next batter to force the game into the ninth. The Lakers did advance Athena Pomele-Pen to third base and Kram walked then stole second base. However, they were unable to convert on the two runners in scoring position.

The Lakers will take Saturday off before returning to the field Sunday morning to close out the NAIA Leadoff Classic. Roosevelt faces Aquinas at 8 a.m. before taking on Concordia (MI) at 10:15 a.m.