BOCA RATON, Fla. – The LIU softball team split day two of the FAU Strikeout Cancer tournament, falling to #12 Kentucky in the first game, 10-2, before beating local rival Columbia, 7-2 in game two.
 
SHARK BITES – KENTUCKY 10, LIU 2

• The nationally-ranked Wildcats got on the board in the top of the second inning. Kentucky would score twice, to go up 2-0. And UK added three more in the top of the third to make it 5-0.
• The Sharks got on the board in the bottom of the third frame. Kristen Blanchard led off with a single up the middle. She was advanced by a fielder's choice for Kelsey Day, and scored on a throwing error to make it 5-1.
• The Wildcats added a run in the fourth, two more in the sixth, and one in the seventh to go up, 10-1.
• LIU would add another run in the bottom of the seventh. Freshman Alyssa Polemeni walked with one out, and came home two batters later, when Day hit an RBI double to left center field to make it 10-2.
• Sophomore Kira Buckner (0-1) had the start and the loss on the mound.

 
SHARK BITES – LIU 7, Columbia 2

• In the second game of the day, neither team would score a run until the fifth. In the top of the inning was when LIU got on the board. Two batters were hit by pitches to put runners on first and second, and Maya Avila brought one of them home with an RBI double to left field. On the next at bat, senior Camryn Lyman cleared the bases with a double down the left field line that put LIU up, 3-0.
• Columbia would score two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Sharks widened the lead back up in the top of the next inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Blanchard reached on a fielder's choice that got one out, but scored one run. Freshman Victoria Zatko would score two more with a long single to center field that put the Sharks up, 6-2.
• LIU would add one more run in the top of the seventh. Senior Kiana Cisneros led off with a single, and came home on an RBI double from classmate Ryleigh Bermea, putting LIU ahead, 7-2.
• Though Columbia would get runners on in the bottom of the seventh, the Sharks' infielders did well, getting two runners out before they reached second, ending the game in favor of LIU, 7-2.
• Sophomore Alyssa O'Donnell (1-3) had the win on the mound, while senior Elena Valenzuela earned her first save of the season, pitching 2.2 scoreless innings.
• Up next, the Sharks wrap up play at the FAU tournament, taking on Michigan State and the host Owls Sunday.