February 9, 2013
Softball Splits On Opening Day at Georgia Southern Tourney
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STATESBORO, Ga. – The University of Akron softball team topped Tennessee Tech 9-2 and lost 6-4 to Georgia Southern in its first competition date of the season on Saturday at the Georgia Southern Tournament.
The Zips (1-1) were down 2-0 to Tennessee Tech (0-1) after the first inning, but posted nine runs off of nine hits over the next four frames en route to a victory in the season opener.
UA put up one run in the bottom of second, and took a lead with a four-run bottom of the third that featured a two-run homer by Cassie Gleisner. Akron extended the advantage with a pair of runs in both the bottom of the fourth and fifth inning.
Erin Seiler went the distance, earning eight strikeouts and allowing nine hits in the winning effort.
Against Georgia Southern (2-0), UA rallied from a 5-0 deficit to pull within 5-4 through six innings.
Rachael Ratcliffe cut the lead to 5-2 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, and the Zips found the plate once in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth. The Eagles scored their final run of the day off of a two-out triple in the top of the seventh and the Zips went down in order during their final at-bat.
Alissa Birkhimer picked up the loss for UA, tallying six strikeouts and giving up nine hits.
The Zips are back in action on Sunday, facing Tennessee Tech (live statistics) at 9:30 a.m. ET and St. John's (N.Y.) (live statistics) at 11:30 a.m.
