COLUMBUS, Ga. - Emma Suh was 3-for-4 and Madison Gonzalez hit her first career home run, as the CMS softball team captured an 8-3 win over St. John Fisher to salvage a split on the first day of the NFCA Leadoff Classic on Friday.
The Athenas fell 11-1 to Linfield in the first game, despite the first career homer from Abby Thompson, as they fall to 4-6 overall on the season with the split.
CMS trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the third against St. John Fisher, but broke open the game with a six-run inning. Lauren Richards started things off with a single, pinch-runner Natalie Dale was sacrificed to second by Paige Zimmerman before stealing third, and Suh drove her in with an RBI single to tie the score.
Ananya Koneti followed with an RBI single to give CMS the lead, and after an error loaded the bases, Thompson had a two-run double to put CMS ahead 4-1. Ari Livi then singled up the middle to score Koneti and a second run came home on an error to make it a 6-1 game.
After St. John Fisher got one run back in the fourth, Gonzalez hit a two-run blast to left-center to stretch the lead to 8-2, before St. John Fisher tacked on one more in the seventh to make the final 8-3.
Jade Johnson went five innings to get the win for the Athenas, allowing two runs on six hits to improve to 3-1. Thompson finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Koneti and Livi were each 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Thompson homered in her only plate appearance in the first game against Linfield, coming on the sixth and homering for one of the two hits that CMS could muster off Tayah Kelley, who improved to 5-0 on the season by striking out 15 Athenas.
CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it plays Transylvania at 11:30 a.m. (Pacific) and Eastern Connecticut at 1:30 p.m.
