MONTGOMERY, Ala. – On the second day of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, the Davenport softball started the day with a loss to Auburn Montgomery, 3-0, but the Panthers rebounded to beat Georgia Gwinnett, 7-3. Alyssa Eastman went 3-for-4 and had four RBIs at the plate in the second game of the day, while picking up the win in the circle to lead the Panthers. Davenport will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon as the take on Auburn Montgomery at 2 p.m. EDT.
 
Game 1 – Auburn Montgomery 3, Davenport 0
In the first game of day two, Auburn Montgomery looked to get on the board early in the first inning as they loaded the bases with two outs, but Emily Maves was able to get out of the jam as she was able to get the Warhawk batter to get fly out to left field.
 
Davenport had trouble getting anything going offensively throughout the day as the Panther offense was no-hit by Auburn Montgomery's Cassie Jones.
 
After leaving six runners on base in the first three innings, the Warhawks finally got on the board scoring once in the fourth and followed up with one more run in the fifth inning. Auburn Montgomery looked to put the game out of reach in the top of the seventh inning after they had the bases loaded once again, but Maves was able to limit the damage and only one run came across for the Warhawks as they took a 3-0 lead.
 
Davenport went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning as Auburn Montgomery hung on to win the game, 3-0, and advance to the final day with a 2-0 record.   
 
Game 2 – Davenport 7, Georgia Gwinnett 3
The Panthers were back in action in an elimination game on Tuesday evening, as they took on Georgia Gwinnett. Davenport was able to get on the board early as Alyssa Eastman, who was the starting pitcher for DU, tripled out right field to score KC Dunne and Paige Sant'Angelo to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning.
 
Karli Myers extended the Davenport lead with a double to center to score Carli SanMillan in the second inning, and DU put two more runs on the board in the top of the third inning to increase their lead to 5-0. Georgia Gwinnett was able to answer back with three runs in the home half of the third inning to pull within two runs.
 
Eastman rounded out her day at the plate with a single to left field to score Myers, while Dunne scored on a Grizzly throwing error.
 
Eastman grabbed the win in the circle, pitching all seven innings allowing just two earned runs and striking out five batters.
 
Davenport now moves on to the final day of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, where they will face host, Auburn Montgomery, at 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.  
 
Softball Contact: Rick Hoskin | 616-871-6180 | rhoskin@davenport.edu
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