ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Rosemont softball team packed The Ballpark at Rosemont as part of the first #WeRUnited to Pack the Park day on Saturday, and the large crowd saw a Lakers team compete until the very end in a pair of games against Trinity International.
The Lakers (10-32, 5-13 CCAC) trailed by as many as eight runs in the opener before rallying in the seventh and bringing the tying run to the plate before falling 9-6 to the Trojans (20-13, 13-5 CCAC).
Roosevelt evened the finale late to force extras, but TIU scored a run in the top of the eighth to come away with a 3-2 decision.
Haley Huss went 3-for-3 and scored twice in the first game. Aisley Njissang drove in both of Roosevelt's runs in the second contest.
Madison Lentz continued to pitch well, including in the nightcap as she allowed just two earned runs.
The Trojans went ahead early in game one and put up five runs in the third, but the Lakers didn't go away and ended up scoring four times and putting runners at the corners with two out and Mackenzie LeDuc at the dish. But pitcher Taylor Carli induced a game-ending groundout despite a valiant Roosevelt comeback.
The Lakers led 1-0 before the Trojans scored twice in the top of the sixth on an error to take the lead for the first time in that game.
However, Njissang continued to swing a hot bat and hit a single to center to drive in Katrina Yager from second and knot the affair in the bottom half of the sixth.
A walk and two straight hits in the top of the eighth allowed TIU to bring in the go-ahead run, but Roosevelt was still not done as Yager hit a one-out triple in the bottom of the eighth to put the tying run 90 feet from home. Pitcher Grace Magnuson was able to evade further damage but sitting down the next two batters and clinch the doubleheader for the guests.
Roosevelt hosted a big day of events, with a youth clinic before the game and giveaways throughout the evening.
The Lakers saluted three seniors prior to the games as part of Senior Day. LeDuc, Brooke Lee and Kelli Jones were feted for their efforts to the program, athletic department and Roosevelt University over the years.
The Lakers play at Calumet St. Joseph on Sunday.
