ROSEMONT, Ill. – The temperatures may have been frigid outside, but conditions inside The Dome at the Ballpark in Rosemont were perfect to begin the 2018 softball season as Roosevelt hosted seven other teams for the first-ever NAIA Leadoff Tournament.
The Lakers began the event against Cleary (Mich.), a game that saw the good gals in green fall 8-0.
Roosevelt's bats awoke in the second game the Lakers played during the day, but a four-run sixth by Madonna (Mich.) erased RU's late two-run lead in a 9-7 defeat.
Haley Huss went 3-for-4 with three RBI against Madonna and 4-for-6 on the day.
Newcomer Aisley Njissang had a strong start to her collegiate career as a Laker, going 3-for-6 with a pair of runs scored.
In the opener, six different Lakers had hits, but it wasn't enough to produce a run while three Roosevelt errors played a huge role in Cleary's three multi-run innings.
Fueled by Huss' big game at the dish, Roosevelt took a one-run lead in the fourth against Madonna and broke a 5-5 tie in the sixth on Katrina Yager's two-run double.
Madonna roared back in the bottom half of the sixth, scoring four times and breaking a tie game on a bases-loaded walk before tacking on an insurance run.
Roosevelt brought the tying run to the plate with two away, but Kelli Jones grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game.
"Today was full of learning opportunities and challenges for us," Roosevelt head coach Aaron Moore said after his team's opening day of 2018. "We competed better in the second game, but still came up short.
"It has to be important to us, as a group moving forward, to limit extra opportunities for opponents or we'll be playing from behind a lot," Moore said. "We certainly had some players step up nicely, so it'll be good to see how we show up tomorrow."
The tournament features Roosevelt, Madonna, Cleary, Judson, Saint Francis (Ind.), Indiana Wesleyan, Aquinas (Mich.) and Goshen (Ind.).
Roosevelt plays three times on Saturday, the final day of the NAIA Leadoff Tournament, inside the Dome at Rosemont
