Park University's softball team traveled to Cocoa, Fla. and Melbourne, Fla. for the Spring Space Coast Games, a tournament split between the Launching Pad Complex and the Space Coast Complex in their respective cities. The Pirates' first losses of the season game down south.  Park is now 11-4 on the season before conference play begins.

Three Pirates hit over .400 over the seven-game stretch, including Macee Austin, Emma James, and Ashley Kurima. Austin was able to get on base at will with a batting average of .476 on 10 hits and 4 walks. Her teammates, Kurima and James hit .429 and .400, respectively.

As a team, the Pirates hit .324 and had eight doubles, outscoring opponents by one run, 29-28.

Lauren Fiene led the Park staff with a 0.54 ERA with only 1 earned run allowed in 13 innings pitched. She threw two complete games and racked up 12 strikeouts. 10 of her strikeouts came in a single game against Washington Adventist for the 4-1 victory.

Solary and Rau had eight and seven strikeouts in their outings and each threw a complete game. As a staff Park had 34 strikeouts in 42 innings of work, while walking 13 batters.

Keiser Box Score | L, 3-5

Kali Day drove in Dani-Quinn Klein to begin the top of the first against Keiser University, but the Seahawks countered in the third and fifth innings for a 5-1 lead.

Park showed life in the top of the sixth with an RBI double from Brooke Conner and an RBI single from Kurima to bring both sides to the final score of 5-3.  

St. Thomas Box Score | L, 1-2

It was a defensive battle in their second game against St. Thomas University (Fla.) and Park was held to one run, their lowest number of runs in a game in 2023.

Lauren Fiene pitched six innings and only allowed one earned run on six hits and one walk. A past ball in the top of the first got a runner in scoring position to eventually score on a groundout to second for St. Thomas.

Both starting pitchers shut things down for the next three innings, but Park tied it in the fifth capitalizing on an error by the Bobcats. James brought the tying run in on a single up the middle to score Nia Muniz who reached on the error.

The bottom of the fifth also signaled a run for St. Thomas as the go ahead run scored on a single to leftfield. Klein made an excellent throw to home to cut down the Bobcat runner at the plate to end the inning.
That was the extent of the scoring though and Park came up short, 2-1.

Cleary Box Score | W, 5-2

Park found their swing in the second day of games against Cleary University and scored five runs on nine hits as a team. Austin and Halle Magee each smacked doubles in the game.

With it tied in the bottom of the third at 1-1, Magee was able to drive in Klein and Austin on a double to leftfield to reclaim the lead, 3-1.

An unearned run came in for Cleary in the top of the fourth, but between Abbie Farmer and Muniz, the Pirates were able to avoid the big inning and retain the lead, 3-2. Farmer pitched 3.1 innings with only one earned run allowed and Muniz struck out two and shut the door for the win.

Two runs of insurance was added in the bottom of the sixth for Park, courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Gracie Erickson and an RBI single by James for the 5-2 win.

Lawrence Tech Box Score | L, 2-5

The next game for Park had the same score, but the opposite result as Lawrence Tech got the best of the Pirates after a 2-0 lead through three innings.

Day and Carmen Miller both had RBI doubles on the day, coming in the top of the fourth and the top of the seventh, but to no avail as Lawrence Tech added three more runs in the fifth and sixth innings for the eventual 5-2 win.

Solary went six innings strong allowing seven hits and only one walk with four earned runs.

Lourdes Box Score | L, 2-13 - 5 Innings

Lourdes University had a successful game against Park, scoring runs in each of the five innings. Namely a six spot in the top of the second made it a real challenge early for Park.

Dakota Rau, Muniz, and Farmer combined for the five innings in the circle and had four strikeouts as a staff.

Offensively, Park drove in a run in the bottom of the first by Shelby Sanders, but the only other run came in the bottom of the fourth off of a double by the freshman, Mya Lewis with her first double in her Pirate career. Speaking of firsts, Ariah Durkes joins Lewis with her first double in a Pirate uniform as well.

Fisher Box Score | W, 12-0 - 5 Innings

It was a decisive finish against Fisher College, as Park racked up five, three, and four run innings to spread the Falcons in five innings.

Austin, Klein, Sanders, and Erickson each had two-hit games, and Sanders and Erickson were bringing in the runs with three RBI's each. The Pirates did all of this without hitting an extra-base hit in the game.

Solary looked good in her four, shutout innings of pitching with only two hits and one walk allowed. She struck out six batters in her third win of the season.

Washington Adventist Box Score | W, 4-1

Fiene struck gold with five straight strikeouts to begin her start in the final game of the tournament Against Washington Adventist. Altogether she had 10 strikeouts for the game and did not allow an earned run on three hits and one walk. For the season, she is averaging over eight strikeouts per seven innings.

Day had her third RBI single in the first innings of games this tournament and she now leads Park on the season with 18 RBI's.

Kurima was able to earn the RBI on a groundout to the first basemen in the top of the fourth, but Magee boosted the Pirates with a single for an additional two runs coming across to score.

Washington Adventist got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, but this game was out of reach for them, 4-1.

Park's Heart of America Athletic Conference schedule begins on March 25 with No. 14 Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. Watch the live-action here.