Florida A&M softball lost a close one at its home opener.
On Tuesday, Feb. 10, the Rattlers (1-4) fell 3-2 in extra innings to the visiting Marshall Thundering Herd (4-2) at FAMU’s Veronica Wiggins Softball Field in Tallahassee.
Needing two extra innings to determine the winner, Marshall’s Sydni Burko hit her second homerun of the night from FAMU pitcher Zoryana Hughes at the top of the ninth to take the 3-2 lead.
At the bottom of the ninth, FAMU’s Kayleigh Spooner grounded out, and then Marshall pitcher Jules King struck out Makayla Register and Nathalie Williams.
FAMU outhit Marshall 7-5, but left seven runners on base compared to the Thunder Herd’s three. Defensively, FAMU had no errors, while Marshall had two.
Amari Brown and Ciara Maple led the Rattlers with two hits apiece. Pitching-wise, Hughes had a 2.33 earned run average.
Next for the Rattlers is a trip to the Peach State, where they will play in the HBCU Invitational versus Bowie State, Coppin State, Hampton, North Carolina Central, and South Carolina State for the three-day tournament from Friday Feb. 13 to Sunday, Feb. 15.
The tournament will be played at the Turner Lake Softball Complex in Covington, Georgia, near Atlanta.
Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU softball drops home opener vs Marshall in extra innings
Reporting by Gerald Thomas III, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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