March 12, 2005

OSCEOLA, FL - Freshman first baseman Whitney Scott (Beaverton, OR) was 4-for-6 with eight RBI, and senior shortstop Natalie Rawson (Palmdale, Calif.) went 5-for-7 with three doubles to lead the Colgate softball team to a pair of wins at the Rebel Games Saturday.

In the opener, Colgate edged Monmouth 9-8, before shutting out Cleveland State 6-0.

With her four doubles, Natalie Rawson is fourth on the school's all-time list with 31. She also moved into fourth place in career runs scored with 93, and seventh place in hits with 146.

In the opener, Colgate exploded for five runs in the first inning on a two-run single by Scott and a RBI double by Rawson. Leftfielder Jessi Bentovoja (El Dorado Hills, Calif) also had a RBI.

The Hawks came back with three runs in the bottom half of the first inning, before adding a run in the second and two more in the third for a 6-5 lead. In the fifth inning, junior Kim Olmstead (Spring Hill, FL) led off with a homer over the right field fence, and later in the frame, the Raiders scored another run on a wild pitch and Scott's sacrifice fly.

Monmouth rallied again to tie the contest with a run in the fifth and sixth innings, before the Raiders came up with the game-winning run in the seventh on Scott's RBI single.

Kate Howard (Wheaton, IL) started for Colgate before giving way to Kelsey Nordstrom (Salina, KS) in the third inning, who picked her second win of the season. Monmouth had the tying run on third in the seventh, but Nordstrom struck out the final two batters.

In the second game, Howard (2-1) went the distance for her 10th career shutout moving her into third place all-time. She gave up six hits, while striking out six and walking two.

Colgate scored its first run in the second inning on Erin Hanna's (Tucson, AZ) RBI single. Hanna went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI.

In the fourth inning, Colgate scored a pair of runs on Scott's two-run double off the left field fence, and added three more in the fifth on another two-run double by Scott, and Hanna's single.