Jacksonville University did its best work with two outs in the rubber game of its River City Rumble series on May 1 at the University of North Florida, at the Pruitt Softball Complex.
The Dolphins also won another one-run game and, for the fourth time this season, took the third game to win an ASUN series.
All in a night’s work, according to coach Erica Ayers, whose team has improved its overall record over last season by nine games, and its conference record by seven.
“Every time we get punched in the face, we punch right back,” Ayers said.
Start with this remarkable stat about the Dolphins’ 9-8 victory over the Ospreys: Every run came with two out. JU (32-19, 16-8) rallied from a 5-0 deficit to take an 8-5 lead, lost that margin when UNF (36-20, 11-13) scored three runs in the top of the fifth, then went ahead for good in the bottom of the fifth on Jaida Thomas’ RBI single to score Vic Burnette from second.
“We never believe we’re out of it,” Ayers said. “There’s a lot of belief in this group. They have so much fight, so much heart.”
The victory gave JU a 9-5 record in one-run games this season. The Dolphins are also 4-1 in extra-inning games.
The Dolphins won the first game of the set 5-0 and then managed only one hit and lost 10-4 in the second game.
UNF coach Jeff Conrad took note of the way the Dolphins pulled out the third-game victory, and said his team’s margin for error in letting opponents off the hook is now down to zero: The defending ASUN champion Ospreys will have to survive a single-elimination game in the first round of the ASUN Tournament May 5-9 at the UNF Softball Complex to advance to double elimination.
“That’s a game we have to figure out to close out,” he said. “We let them back in the game, and to their credit, they took advantage of some mistakes. We had too many walks [six] … you can’t do those things this time of year. we have to get better.”
JU beat UNF in both three-game sets 2-1, breaking a six-game losing streak. The Ospreys also had won 12 of the previous 15 games against the Dolphins. UNF leads the overall rivalry 41-26.
What are the ASUN Tournament scenarios?
Depending on how three conference games shake out on May 2, and what the final NCAA softball RPI is following those games, it appears the defending champion Ospreys will be the No. 8 seed and play either Florida Gulf Coast or Eastern Kentucky on May 5 at 2:30 p.m.
JU is projected to be the fourth seed and will play the UNF-EKU winner on May 6 at 2:30 p.m.
The championship game is on May 9 at 12 p.m.
The final seedings and schedule will be determined on May 3.
What happened in the JU vs. UNF series?
Game 1, Dolphins 5, Ospreys 0: Jacey Harrelson spun a three-hit shutout, and JU scored all their runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Allison Carter slammed her fourth home run of the season with a runner on, and Emma Mansfield hit an RBI double.
Harrelson (20-7) leads the ASUN in victories.
Game 2, Ospreys 10, Dolphins 4: UNF spotted JU a 4-0 lead in the first inning on four unearned runs without the benefit of a hit, but tied the game in the top of the fourth and went ahead for good on Kelsey Vogel’s sacrifice fly in the fifth and Hallie Langford’s RBI single in the sixth.
UNF’s nightmarish first inning included three walks, a hit batter and an error. But Conrad stuck with starter Cameron Ponich (14-4), who pitched 4.1 innings. Macie Hunolt then delivered 2.2 perfect innings for her second save of the season.
After a rain delay, the Ospreys scored four in the top of the seventh, highlighted by run-scoring singles by Hannah Davila and Langford and a steal of home by Kelsey Vogel.
Game 3, Dolphins 9, Ospreys 8: Two errors led to three runs in the top of the first for UNF, and Langford hit a two-run single in the second for a 5-0 lead.
The Dolphins tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a bases-clearing three-run double by Sarah Beth Brake, after Thomas hit a two-run ground-rule double.
Lindsey Chadwick hit her ninth homer of the season in the bottom of the fourth to give JU an 8-5 lead but UNF tied it in the top of the fifth with doubles by Langford and Grace Shaw highlighting the rally.
Jacksonville’s winning run was set up when Brunette walked with one out and stole second. One out later, Thomas (5 for 11 with four RBI in the series) singled to right to score Brunette.
Harrelson, who was pulled in the second inning and re-inserted in the top of the sixth and weathered a rough seventh inning.
Addie Keef’s pop-up to the right side of the infield fell to the ground when Brunette at shortstop, and Liz Harley at second miscommunicated. After Bella Cimino moved Keef to second on a groundout to Brunette, Ayden Allen walked on a 3-2 count.
Shaw grounded out to Brunette to move the runners up, but Davila popped up to Harley to end the game.
Harrelson got the save for Reese Wells (7-6).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Resilient JU Dolphins take River City Rumble softball series over UNF
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
