MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Converse College softball team fell twice on Sunday afternoon during the final day of the Florida Tech Tournament held at the USSSA Space Coast Stadium. The Valkyries lost to Palm Beach Atlantic 9-0 in the early game before falling to North Georgia (6-0) in the late game.
GAME ONE: Converse 0, Palm Beach Atlantic 9 (5 Innings)
After a scoreless first inning for both teams, Palm Beach Atlantic blew the game wide open with six runs in the top of the second frame. Hannah Haas came up with a bases-clearing triple that plated three RBIs in the at-bat.
A single run in the third paired with two more in the fourth extended the Sailfish lead to 9-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth. Needing two runs to send the game to the sixth, Converse loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth after earning three walks. However, a swinging strikeout ended the threat and gave PBA a 9-0 win.
GAME TWO: Converse 0, North Georgia 6
Converse went three-up, three-down in the first two innings and North Georgia took advantage of that by scoring two runs in each of the first two frames to push ahead 4-0 early. From that point the Valkyries defense stiffened and the Nighthawks offense went silent.
However, Converse could not plate any runs to inch closer and North Georgia posted two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend the lead to 6-0. The Valkyries looked poised to scratch the scoreboard in the top of the sixth after Jena Baro led the frame off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by McKayla Davis. Unfortunately, that would be as far as she would get on the bases as NGU's pitcher recorded two more outs to end the threat.
Converse held North Georgia scoreless in the sixth, but went down in order in the seventh, falling to NGU by the final of 6-0.
Converse will return to the field on Thursday, February 28 as it plays host to USC-Aiken in a twin-billing. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Tyger River Park in Duncan, S.C.