CLERMONT, Fla. - Junior Rowan Turner (Kansas City, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) tossed a complete game with eight strikeouts and senior Brittney Blokker (Seattle, Wash./Ballard) collected her 100th career hit as the Smith College softball team earned its first win of the season with a 4-1 win over Gordon College on Sunday at Hancock Park. The Pioneers fell to Macalester, 7-2 earlier in the day.

RECORDS

• SMITH: 1-3
• MACALESTER: 5-1
• GORDON: 0-2

Megan Jenkerson started off the season with a bang as the sophomore launched a homerun over the center field wall at the first bat of the season to give the Fighting Scot a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second inning, Smith strung together three consecutive hits to put a pair of runs on the board. Sophomore Tyler Feeney (Merrimac, Mass./Pentucket Regional) began the rally with a double before first year Elodie Townsend (Mill Valley, Calif./Tamalpais) singled into left to plate the first run. Blokker ended the tie with a two-out double as Smith took a 2-1 lead into the third.

The Pioneers added to their lead in the bottom of the third with another two-out rally spurred on by a double and single back to back. Alyssa Pioggia (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) and Ruth Zimmerman (Edison, N.J./J.P. Stevens) came up with the big knocks for the Pioneers. Pioggia and Zimmerman connected for another run in the fifth to make it a three-run game.

Turner went the full seven innings, allowing one run on four hits. Blokker, Pioggia and Zimmerman each had two hits in the win.


Earlier in the day, the Pioneers surrendered three runs in the top of the seventh inning and were unable to make up the ground in a 7-2 loss to Macalester. Nikki Caicedo put the Scots ahead with a solo home run in the top of the first inning. Smith tied the game in the bottom of the first as Blokker scored on a fielding error, then took a 2-1 lead with another run in the second. In the top of the fourth, Morghan Bean led off with a double and later scored on a single by Natalie Platt. With Platt on third, Kal Perket first year delivered a two-out single to score Platt and give Macalester a 3-2 lead. Bean singled home Gunther in the fifth, and Caicedo and Platt drove in runs in a three-run seventh inning.

Senior pitcher Natalie Burchat (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) went the full seven innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits. Blokker went 2-for-4 with a run scored to pace the Pioneer offense.

UP NEXT
The Florida trip continues for Smith, with the Pioneers facing Becker at 3:30 p.m. and Salve Regina at 6:00 p.m. on March 13.