Tournament Play Wrap Up

Tournament Play Wrap-Up

Liberty Tournament:

The Delaware State softball team opened its 2018 season with four games at the Liberty University Softball Challenge in Lynchburg, Va. They played Liberty and Central Michigan twice. They competed very well.

Delaware State was led by Moreno  whom had three hits in nine at bats in the tourney, while Berry and Flournory collected two hits each.

In the season opener on Thursday, DSU catcher Desiree Moreno hit a home run and starting pitcher Hannah Shields allowed just two unearned runs and struck out six batters in six innings, but it was not enough in a 2-1 loss to host Liberty.

The Second Game Delaware State fell to Central Michigan 9-0 in its second game, also on Thursday. Kayleigh Berry had a one-out single in the third inning for DSU’s lone hit in the game. The third game, The Hornets suffered a 3-2 loss to Central Michigan in their third tournament game today. Delaware State trailed 2-0 before scoring a run in the fifth inning and another in the top of the seventh to tie the game, but Central scored the winning run on a two-out, walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh. The last game of the tournament Delaware State lost its final tournament game 6-0 to Liberty.

NC State Invitational 

This weekend was not our best showing but we learned a lot of important things to help us along this journey. The first Game we lost to Ohio University 4-12. Then the second game we lost to NC State 0-8. NC States bats were going that day and it was difficult to catch up. The third game we lost 0-11 against Wagner and we couldn’t get our Bats going. But after that lost it turned somethings around we came back and had a redemption against Ohio and held the lead the whole game but ended up dropping 4-6. The final Game, we got to have a rematch with Wagner in a very high contested game we ended up dropping the game 2-1 in later innings Wagner won on a 2 run homerun. It was a close game and despite starting the tournament not very strong Delaware State bounced back and competed in the final games.

USC Upstate Tournament

Hornets notched there first win in this tournament. Delaware State never backed down from any team in this tournament. Every game the girls put up a fight and the finale came out with a win. Washington had two hits this weekend, each a home run, to lead DSU with three homers and six RBI this season.      

In the first Game, we lost in 8 innings against Mt. St. Mary's in which they came on top in international tie-breaker. Delaware State played USC Upstate  and lost 0-11. Then, the third game Delaware State battled with Indiana and ended up losing 9-4 in which we were winning during a big chunk of the game. Concluding that game we played USC Upstate in another nail biter and ended up dropping that game 2-1 and they are currently ranked 25th. 

In the final Game Alexis Goldsby tossed a complete game and five players drove in a run each to lead Delaware State to a 5-3 victory over Furman in the Hornets’ final game of the University of South Carolina Upstate Tournament this weekend.DSU’s victory was its first of the season and also snapped Furman’s 10-game win streak.


USF Tournament

 The Delaware State softball team recorded season-highs in runs and hits, but it was not enough in a 15-12 loss to South Dakota State in the Hornets’ South Florida Tournament finale on Sunday.DSU was 1-4 in its five tournament games, defeating Iona (3-2), while also falling to Southern Illinois (10-2), Western Michigan (14-6) and Robert Morris (6-4).In the South Dakota State contest, nine players hit safely for the Hornets. Newcomers Vanessa Barron (1-for-1) and Alyssa Diaz (1-for-4) led DSU with three RBI each.Desiree Moreno (2-3) homered for the second straight game.  Moreno was 7-for-15 in the tournament (.467) with two home runs and four RBI. For the season, she’s batting a team-best .404 and is tied for the club lead with four home runs.Sabrina Quarles also drove in two runs for the Hornets in the South Dakota State contest.In Delaware State’s 3-2 tournament win over Iona, Hannah Shields tossed a complete game, allowing five hits and two runs (one earned), while striking out four in seven innings. Washington had hits in all five South Florida Tournament games (7-for-16), including a home run, and drove in four.

Coach Jackson's thoughts: 

 Tournament play was good for us, it gave us the opportunity to learn what our strengths are, how to play together as a team and what areas we will improve on.  We have a young team on the field so the preseason offered learning experience, we discovered what we are made of in the face adversity. We all had to  make adjustments to discover success. Though we did not have the wins,  we grew a lot as a team, learning how to compete with and for each other and I'm excited to enter conference play with this team. I have a lot of faith in what we are capable of it. We are a talented group, and we will be a strong competitor in conference.

What I love about conference is it is not about the most skilled team... its about the team that comes out and plays with the most energy, fight, grit, determination. Preseason is behind us and I'm looking forward to what is to come in conference play. 

What's Next?

The Hornets begin their MEAC North schedule this weekend with a three-game series at Maryland-Eastern Shore.  The teams will play a doubleheader on Sat. (Mar. 17) beginning at 1 p.m. and a single game on Sun.  (Mar. 18) at noon.