MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The Columbia softball team rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth but fell to Colgate, 9-8, Sunday afternoon in its final contest of The Spring Games.
 
Columbia (3-2) led by six runs after two innings but Colgate (6-4) chipped away with a run in the fourth and three in the sixth before tying things up in the seventh. The Raiders then scored three in the top of the eighth with the help of Columbia's fifth error to take their first lead.
 
The Lions rallied back in the bottom half, plating their first run off an RBI single by Max Ortega. Sommer Grzybek brought home the second run on a groundout to second to put the tying run at third, but Hailey Wetherill would be left stranded as Nishihira struck out to end the ballgame.
 
"We have lessons that can be learned from this game," said head coach Jennifer Teague, who earned her 100th win at Columbia on Saturday. "Colgate was just a little bit tougher than we were today. We had plenty of opportunities to add to our lead but left a lot of runners on base."
 
Columbia left 11 on base in the contest, failing to score with the bases loaded and nobody out in both the fourth and sixth innings.
 
Senior Sommer Grzybek led the way offensively for the Lions, going 2-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs. Grzybek powered her first home run of the year to center in the second, plating three runs and increasing the lead to 6-0. Junior Max Ortega furnished a noteworthy performance at the dish as well, going 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Senior catcher Amanda Nishihira also contributed, going 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI as part of Columbia's three-run first. First-year Kat LoVerde had a pair of hits off the bench.
 
Senior pitcher Erin Gallo got the start and struck out one while facing just seven batters across two scoreless innings. She was replaced at the start of the third with the Lions up 6-0. After Madeline Meier was charged with two runs in 1.1 innings, senior Madison Canby came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth. She got Nardone to fly out to center and escaped the inning after Brackett was called for leaving third base early.
 
Colgate cut the deficit to a single run with three in the sixth. A one-out sac fly in the seventh tied things up. The Raiders pushed across three in the eighth off two hits and two Columbia errors.
 
Canby (2-1) would go on to suffer her first loss of the season, getting charged with seven runs, four earned, on nine hits across 4.0 innings.
 
The Lions head back to New York for the week before traveling right back down to Florida for five games next weekend at the UCF Invitational. Columbia is slated for two games against Drexel and singles against Longwood, LIU and Ball State.
 
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