CLERMONT, Fla. — The Hope College softball team posted a 12-9 nonconference victory over Lawrence University on Friday as the teams combined for 27 hits.
Hope jumped out to a 6-1 lead but had to fend off the Vikings, who scored eight runs in the final four innings.
Lexi Angemi went 4-for-4, drove in three runs and scored two runs for Lawrence (5-6), and Amanda Karnatz went 3-for-4 and scored three runs. Sam Belletini and Emilia Jackson both went 2-for-4 for Lawrence, and Belletini drove in a pair of runs.
Jackson made the start but lasted just 1.1 innings and took the loss. Katie Singer gave up three runs in four innings to pick up the victory for Hope (9-3).
Shay Pinhey went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs for Hope, which led 6-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth. Lawrence scored twice in the fourth as Belletini had a run-scoring double, and Madeline MacLean added an RBI single.
Hope and Lawrence exchanged four-run outbursts in the fifth with Angemi, Kori Looker and Rheya Upadhyaya all collecting run-scoring singles in the frame.
After Hope scored two in the top of the sixth to go up 12-7, the Vikings matched it with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. Angemi picked up a run-scoring double in the inning.
Relief pitcher Tena Baar held the Vikings scoreless in the seventh to pick up the save.