Meredith Owen hit her seventh home run of the year and Courtney Brandt pitched a two-hit shutout in game two as Stetson split an Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader with Northern Kentucky Friday afternoon at Patricia Wilson Field. The visiting Norse (7-22, 1-10 A-Sun) took game one 3-1, while the Hatters (19-13, 2-6 A-Sun) won game two 8-0 in five innings.
Demi Meza recorded three hits on the day to lead the Hatters. Mallory Brooks recorded her first two career hits in game two and Chrissy Morello drove in a pair of runs.
NKU starting pitcher Emily Schwaeble struck out 14 batters in game one and also hit a solo home run to lead the Norse.
"I was really disappointed in the first game," Stetson head coach Frank Griffin said. "I felt like we were really flat at the plate. Perhaps (Schwaeble) was just that good but I saw us overswinging, pulling our head off the ball, swinging at balls, taking strikes, and doing everything we shouldn't be doing.
"We talked about it between games, and I felt like we made some significant improvements," Griffin continued. "We quit swinging at 100%, we knew our strike zone, we stayed in our strike zone, we hit backside, and it was just a different ballgame."
Owen put the Hatters on the board early in game two, taking a Kelley Benhase pitch to rightcenter field for a two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning. Later in the frame, Morello drove in two more with a bases-loaded single to leftcenter field, giving Stetson a 4-0 lead.
The Hatters added two more runs in the third inning on an RBI single by Jordan Cleghorn and a sacrifice fly from Kayla Drury.
Three walks, a single, and a hits-batsman accounted for Stetson's final two runs in the fourth inning, and Brandt made the lead hold up. The Hatter sophomore allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out five.
The teams will play the rubber game of their three-game series at noon on Saturday. Live video and live stats will be available at GoHatters.com.
