Photo Courtesy of Centre Athletics

CLERMONT, Fla. – The Manchester University softball team concluded a strong week of play down in the Sunshine State on Friday March 25.

Returning to Florida for the Spring Games for the first time in three years, the Black & Gold collected six victories in 10 games – including winning three games on the final day of competition on Friday. Manchester ended its trip with four straight wins.

A young Spartan squad opened its trip with a pair of narrow defeats on Sunday March 20. The Spartans fell to Union College (New York) and Washington & Jefferson (Pennsylvania) by final scores of 4-1 and 5-2.

Manchester bounced back on Monday March 21 with a pair of victories over Lawrence University (Wisconsin) 9-2 and SUNY Cobleskill 10-4. The Spartans would then face their two toughest opponents on Tuesday March 22 in Gustavus Adolphus (Minnesota) and Benedictine (Illinois). The Gusties and Eagles would top Manchester by final scores of 14-0 and 10-1, respectively.

The Black & Gold got hot towards the end of their trip, earning four straight victories to conclude play in the Sunshine State. Manchester started its winning streak with an 8-0 victory over Keuka College (New York) on Wednesday March 23. Following a rainout on Thursday, the Spartans rolled to three wins on Friday March 25. Manchester opened the day with a 10-2 win over Bates (Maine). MU would then follow with a 7-4 triumph over Centre (Kentucky) before rounding out the trip with an exciting 9-8 come-from-behind, extra inning win over Middlebury (Vermont).

The Spartans (6-10) will return to Indiana this weekend and are scheduled to play at Calvin University in Michigan on Wednesday March 30 beginning at 3 p.m.