FORT MEYERS, Fla. - Omaha softball (6-1) won back-to-back games Friday to kickoff the FGCU Invitational as the Mavericks defeated Big Ten member Wisconsin 7-0 and BIG EAST foe Seton Hall 6-5 in a 10-inning thriller.
Omaha softball opened the scoring the third and didn't look back in the Mavericks' first game in the Sunshine State as Omaha took on Big Ten foe Wisconsin.
Marra Cramer's two-run home run was followed by an RBI single off the bat of
Katherine Johnson to score Cramer and
Maggie O'Brien, doubling the lead to 4-0. In the seventh
Sydney Thomason homered to left to kickoff the scoring in the seventh followed by an Aly Edwards RBI single to score
Ava Rongisch, making the lead 6-0.
Emma Durr capped Omaha's rout of Wisconsin scoring on a wild pitch.
Maddia Groff started in the circle allowing just three hits while striking out 12. Groff sat the Badgers down in order in back-to-back innings in the second and third frames.
After trailing 5-0 through the first four and a half innings, Omaha rallied for six unanswered en route to a 10-inning walk-off win over Seton Hall. O'Brien was responsible for Omaha's first four runs of the game, starting with RBI singles in the fifth and sixth to get the Mavericks on the board. Sydney Schmidt would tie the game on a fielder's choice in the sixth. Omaha was unable to convert a baserunner into a run in the home seventh to send the game to extras. Omaha had runners in scoring position with no outs but the Pirates got out of the inning unscathed.
Sammy Schmidt singled through the right side to score
Rylee White to win it for the Mavericks.
Groff earned the win, her fourth of the season, in three innings of relief.
Alexis Wiggins got the starting nod allowing six hits, followed by 2.2 innings of work by
Grace Hornbuckle.
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 15 to take on Seton Hall and the host Florida Gulf Coast beginning at 12:30 p.m. CT.
Season tickets for home games at
Connie Claussen Field are on-sale now at
OMavs.com/Tix.
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