BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to allow the host Owls to escape with an 8-5 win over Bethune-Cookman in the season opener for the Wildcats at FAU Softball Stadium on Friday evening/Saturday morning. The game was part of the FAU "First Pitch" Classic hosted by Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Florida.
 
With the game tied at 4-4 heading past midnight on the clock Friday evening, the host Florida Atlantic Owls (3-1) pushed across four runs in the top-half of the ninth inning.
 
First baseman Lauren Whitt scored the inning's opening run off a wild pitch by Bethune-Cookman (0-1) freshman hurler Victoria Guzman (San Jose, Calif.), breaking the deadlock and giving the Owls a 5-4 lead.
 
At the top of the order, shortstop Emily Lochten's two-out double to left would drive across Caitlin Hogue for the 6-4 advantage. Lochten would work her way into scoring position on a stolen base, before scampering across a play later off a Bryanna Campos (Pico Rivera, Calif.) errant throw from third.
 
The final score for the Owls would cross off the bat of Tatum Buckley as she brought around centerfielder Madisyn Palmer from second base.
 
In the home-half of the frame, Bethune-Cookman (0-1) tried to rally for the fourth time on the evening.
 
Senior first baseman Iesha Waters (Riverside, Calif.) advanced to third on a wild pitch from FAU's Buckley with one out in the frame. Campos would bounce back from the error earlier in the inning, delivering a two-out RBI double down the line in left to plate Waters and cut into the lead, 8-5. However, a pop-up would end the game with Campos stranded at second.


With the Wildcats serving as the home team on the scoreboard, the host FAU Owls held a 2-0 advantage midway through the opening frame.
 
Bethune-Cookman immediately answered in the bottom of the inning when sophomore right fielder Ryan Jackson (Chino Hills, Calif.), the 2018 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year, registered her first home run of the year with a two-run shot clear the wall in left field that also scored Cheyenne Smith (lake Elsinore, Calif.) on the play.
 
FAU stepped back out in front in the top of the second as Buckley singled past the glove of BCU pitcher Destiny Enriquez (Norwalk, Calif.), plating Palmer for the 3-2 go-ahead score.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Jackson would pick up her second round-tripper of the evening when she took Kara Lokeinsky pitch over the right field wall in order to knot the game at 3-all.
 
Lochten would once again push the homestanding Owls in front in the top-half of the fifth as she tallied her first home run of the year in solo fashion, giving FAU the 4-3 lead.
 
For the third time on the evening, the visiting Wildcats would rally to tie the game at 4-4.
 
BCU sophomore catcher Taylor Sherritt's (Ridgecrest, Calif.) RBI single to left center drove around Campos from second after the senior third baseman reached safely on an error charged to the FAU outfield on the previous play.
 
The win went to FAU reliever Buckley, improving her record to 2-0 on the campaign. Buckley worked three relief innings in the circle to close out the game, allowing two unearned runs on three hits, a walk and three strikeouts. Meanwhile, it was Guzman (0-1) accepting the loss for Bethune-Cookman after went 2.2 innings in the circle, giving up four runs (one earned) on five hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
 
Jackson finished with two of BCU's six hits on the evening, including her pair of home runs.
 
BCU will look to bounce back Saturday when the Wildcats take on Boston University at 11:15 a.m.
 
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