DeLAND, Fla. - North Florida softball (32-17, 16-7 ASUN) relied on its stellar pitching and standout defense in a doubleheader split against Stetson (15-36, 6-17 ASUN) on Friday afternoon.
After dropping the first game of the day, the Ospreys bounced back in a big way with a 2-0 win after breaking the scoreless stalemate in the seventh inning.
Mackenzie Woods put the ball in play and
Marley Nagy took advantage of a misread from Stetson to score the go-ahead run.
Both
Allison Benning and
Halle Arends pitched the entirety of both games, including another Arends' complete-game shutout victory in back-to-back appearances.
Abi Annett also notched the 100th hit of her career over the doubleheader day on the offensive side.
With a win on Saturday in the regular season finale, UNF would be set up to clinch the No. 2 seed in the ASUN Championship, which would give them a double-bye along with No. 1-seeded Eastern Kentucky. It would be the second time in three seasons that the Ospreys would hold a top-three seed in the conference tournament.
GAME 1 | STET 3, UNF 2
Ospreys held a two-run lead for the majority of its first game on Friday, but a late rally in the final two innings from Stetson pushed them to a comeback 3-2 win.
Pitchers of Record
Win: Hannah Marien (7-16)
Loss: Allison Benning (17-10)
Line Scores
UNF | 2 R, 6 H, 1 E, 8 LOB
STET | 3 R, 8 H, 0 E, 3 LOB
Statistical Leaders
UNF
Madisyn Federico | 2-3, R, BB
Abi Annett | 2-3, R
Logan Jackson | 1-3, RBI
Allison Benning | 6.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 103 pitches
STET
Kami Eppley | 3-3, RBI
Madelyn Synoracki | 2-4, RBI, R
Nadia English | 2-4, RBI
Hannah Marien | 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 103 pitches
GAME 2 | UNF 2, STET 0
Arends continued her rampage in the circle against conference opponents with yet another complete-game shutout to tie up the weekend series against the Hatters.
Pitchers of Record
Win:
Halle Arends (11-5)
Loss: Lauren Hobbs (6-14)
Line Scores
UNF | 2 R, 7 H, 0 E, 5 LOB
STET | 0 R, 2 H, 2 E, 5 LOB
Statistical Leaders
UNF
Madisyn Federico | 2-4
Mackenzie Woods | 1-2, RBI, R, BB
Halle Arends | 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 110 pitches
STET
Lath Freeman | 1-3
Jordyn Stanfill | 1-3
Lauren Hobbs | 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 91 pitches
UP NEXT
The Ospreys look to clinch the coveted second seed in the ASUN Championship against Stetson to wrap up the regular season on Saturday, May 4, with first pitch set for 4 p.m., in DeLand, Fla.