The USSSA Pride fell short in their season opener against the Canadian Wild with a final score of 6-2.
Scoring started in the second inning with a solo homer from Samantha Show, in her first at bat for the USSSA Pride. The Canadian Wild found their first runs in the same inning when Natalie Wideman hit a 3 RBI double and a runner scored off a wild pitch by Jailyn Ford. However, Megan Good ate away at the deficit in the third, hitting a solo homer. The Wild would make up for that run with a RBI groundout by Victoria Hayward. A Canadian Wild homer hit by Kelsey Harshman in the fifth, would find the USSSA Pride down 6-2 and call for a pitching change to Jessica Burroughs. Down big in the seventh, the USSSA Pride put two runners on with no outs but the pitching of the Canadian Wild’s Lauren Regula would end the game without any late game heroics.
This is a game that was closer than the box score will let on. The Pride had some good performances from players like Samantha Show. She demonstrated her hitting prowess in her first game with USSSA Pride going 2-3 at the plate including a home run. Jessica Burroughs pitched well in relief, not allowing any runs in her two innings pitched. The Pride lost this game off of one bad inning and not being able to knock in runners from scoring position. If they can keep from jamming themselves up like they did in the second inning and get a few more hits with runners in scoring position, there is a strong chance they could bounce back in the double header tonight.
The Pride are slated to play a doubleheader tonight, May 29th with the first game set to start at 7 PM EST and the second game set for 9 PM EST at Rent One Park in Marion, Illinois. Links to tickets can be found at http://siminers.com/tickets/Individual_Tickets
If you cannot make it out in person, games will be streamed for FREE on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/floridapride/.
Tickets are on sale for home games at the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Melbourne, FL at https://www.etix.com/ticket/e/1018288/pride-2021-viera-usssa-space-coast.