BALTIMORE, Md. – Niagara graduate student
Shayna Myshrall hit three home runs and drove in seven runs across two games to power Niagara (5-8) to a split of its Saturday contests. The Purple Eagles defeated UMBC 9-6 in the night cap after falling to UAlbany 2-1 earlier in the day.
How it Happened
Game 1: Niagara 1, UAlbany 2
Niagara got seven strong innings of work from graduate starter
Maddie Hickingbottom as the Georgetown, Ontario, native pitched a complete game and struck out seven while allowing two runs on five hits.
Hickingbottom set down the first nine batters she faced in the contest before conceding a bunt single to begin the fourth. She would strikeout the next two batters before Petrella homered to left to give the Great Danes a 2-0 lead over the Purple Eagles.
Niagara would get the leadoff runner on in the bottom of the fifth as
Sophia Marrero singled to left on a 3-2 count. She would later be eliminated as
Shayna Myshrall grounded into fielder's choice and Niagara would remain down by two heading into the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, Niagara would find itself down to its last out when Myshrall stepped into the box and hit her first home, her first of the season, to cut the UAlbany lead in half.
Selah Moyer would come in to pinch hit after the home run by Myshrall and ground out to third to end the contest.
Niagara Notes
• Myshrall's homer was her first of the season and fifth of her career. The graduate student also recorded her second multi-hit game of the season.
• Hickingbottom struck out seven batters, one shy of her season-high of eight set vs. Morgan State earlier in the week.
• Mayo has recorded a hit in six of the last seven games after seeing her five-game hit streak end in Friday's contest against UAlbany.
Game 2: Niagara 9, UMBC 6
The Purple Eagles quickly loaded the bases in the top of the first as
Lindsay Mayo,
Maggie Kellner, and
Brianna Delaney each reached base to start the game.
Hailey Cenname would reach on a fielder's choice to score Mayo, the first run of the game. Myshrall would then come to the plate, and in an 0-2 hole, hit a three-run home run to put Niagara up 4-0.
UMBC would strike right back, scoring three runs off Niagara starter
Cara Leone to draw within one, before, in the top of the second, Myshrall would deliver again, driving in her fourth run of the game to give Niagara a 5-3 advantage.
The Purple Eagles would trail for the first time in the game when the Retrievers scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the second, to take a 6-5 lead.
The game would remain tied through the fifth inning, but the Purple and White would score four, including two on a two-run home run off the bat of Myshrall, to make it a 9-6 game after five and a half innings of play.
Julia Thompson, who came into the contest in the bottom of the fifth, would strike out three of the eight batters she faced in the final two innings to earn the win.
Niagara Notes
• Myshrall became the first Purple Eagle to record two home runs in a game since
Samantha Hare hit two against Holy Cross on March 13, 2022.
• Myshrall's six RBI is the most in a single game by a Purple Eagle in the last decade.
•
Madison LaPenta recorded the first three hit game of her career.
• Mayo recorded her sixth multi-hit game of the season and fifth in the last seven games.
•
Payton Rano recorded a two-hit game, the first of her career.
• Myshrall and Cenname each scored twice.
Up Next
The Purple and White will take on Colgate on Sunday, March 17 to close out their Spring Break trip. First pitch is set for 12:30 p.m.
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