Softball team can’t hold late lead, falls to visiting Barry

ESTERO — Florida Gulf Coast University softball coach Dave Deiros got exactly the Kelly Powe-type performance he’d hoped from his season opener on Thursday.

Unfortunately it lasted only six innings.

Sophomore Racheal Edinger sparkled in her debut as the successor to Powe, who won 50 games the past two seasons, but allowed all three of Barry’s hits in the seventh inning as the Eagles fell, 3-1, at home to the Bucs.

The Eagles had taken a 1-0 lead on first baseman Natasha Johnson’s single through the right side in the second inning, and it looked like more than enough offense as Edinger rolled through the Barry lineup.

She took a no-hitter into the final inning, before allowing Christina DeTagle to reach on a bunt single to lead off the seventh. Two batters later, Maile Keeney advanced DeTagle on a fielder’s choice to short, but second baseman Alisha Boyd’s throw to first skipped into the Barry dugout and sent DeTagle home with the tying run.

After Brittany Anderson’s single to right, pinch hitter Brittany Behrendt delivered a two-run triple to right to cap the rally.