COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Ithaca College softball team fell to Trine University, 10-1, on Saturday in the second day of play at the National Fast pitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga.  before rebounding with a 10-0 triumph over Fontbonne in their second game of the day.  With the split, the Bombers, who earned the top seed in the Bronze Championship bracket, move to 2-2 on the young season.

Trine 10, Ithaca 1 (5 innings)

Trine got on the board early as the Thunder sent nine hitters to the plate in the bottom of the first and chased Ithaca's starting pitcher, Laura Quicker, after plating four runs on four hits including three RBI-singles.

The Thunder would strike again in the bottom of the fourth after clubbing three hits which led to six runs and a 10-0 lead heading into the fifth.

Annie Cooney led off the top of the fifth with a walk and eventually came around to score the Bombers' lone run of the contest when Allie Colleran laced an RBI-single to left field.  With two on and one out, the Bombers were unable to generate any final inning offense as the Thunder put Ithaca away, 10-1.

Quicker was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on three hits in a third of an inning.  Haley Congdon threw 2.2 innings in relief and surrendered one run on three hits while Payton Cutting tossed one scoreless inning for the Blue and Gold.

Ithaca 10, Fontbonne 0 (5 innings)

The Bombers sent nine batters to the dish in the bottom of the first inning and scored five runs despite only coming away with two hits.  Colleran led off the inning with a walk and moved to second after beating out the throw on a grounder to the Griffins' shortstop off the bat of Emily Bloom.  The next hitter, Vanessa Brown, singled to center to load the bases before Kelly Robichaud knocked in the Bombers' first run with a fielder's choice.  Back-to-back walks by Hannah Peters and Casey Gavin loaded the bases again for Ithaca allowing Cooney to make it 3-0 with a groundout.  Hannah Anderson delivered two more runs for Ithaca after scoring Gavin and Peters with a single up the middle to make it 5-0 before the Griffins could escape the inning.

Ithaca would strike again in the second inning with five more runs on three hits to push its edge to 10-0.  In all, 11 hitters went to bat in the frame with Peters and Gavin each collecting a pair of RBI in the process. 

Quicker picked up her first win of the season after shutting Fontbonne's offense down over five innings.  The senior allowed just four hits and tallied four strikeouts in the win without allowing a run.

Brown went 2-for-3 at the dish with a run scored while Peters earned one hit in two at-bats to go along with two RBI, two runs scored and a walk.  Cooney was 1-for-3 with three runs batted in to her credit.   

Ithaca will be back in action at 11 a.m. on Sunday when they take on Piedmont College in the semifinal round play.