TOWSON, Md. (Feb. 27, 2026)--The Lady Bears softball team began Day 1 of the DeMarini Tiger Clash dropping both of their games on Friday at Tiger Softball Stadium on the Towson University campus. Morgan State lost the opener to Cornell, 8-0 in five innings and ended the afternoon falling to host Towson, 11-8 in six innings.
 
The Lady Bears would surrender a combined 19 runs on 22 hits in the two games.
 
Game 1 vs. Cornell
Cornell pitcher Mila Fiordalisi pitched the second perfect game in school history, to help the Big Red to the 8-0 victory. Fiordalisi would strike out eight batters in five innings pitched.
 
The Big Red (3-3) scored three runs in the first on a RBI single hit by Lauren Holt and Tarisa Frans later hit a triple to left field which scored two more runs to give Cornell a 3-0 lead.
 
The score would remain the same until the fourth inning when Cornell added three more runs. Avery Wolfe drew a bases loaded walk, scoring Charlize Cai for the first run of the inning. Frans would again drive in two runs, this time on a double hit to left center to make it a 6-0 game.
 
Cornell ended the scoring with RBI singles by Holt and Emma Harshberger for the 8-0 victory.
 
Frans, who was a homerun shy of hitting for the cycle, finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a game-high 4 RBI. Ella Harrod also went 3-for-3 at the plate, scored two runs and had a walk.
 
Morgan State starting pitcher Millie Cousins would go 3.2 innings and struck out two Cornell batters.
 
Game 2 at Towson
Morgan State concluded the opening day of the DeMarini Tiger Clash with an 11-3 loss in six innings to host Towson on Friday afternoon at Tiger Softball Stadium.
 
Morgan State fell to 0-7 on the season, while the Tigers improved to 7-7. The win was the third straight for Towson over the Lady Bears.
 
Towson's Kaci Benton finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a game-high three runs and a game-high 5 RBI. Benton would end the game with her three-run home run to left center for the game's final score. Addie Ferguson was 2-for-2 with both of her hits being homeruns, while recording 4 RBI and two runs scored. Leah Mears tallied two hits and had a team-high three runs.
 
The host Tigers wasted no time jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Benton doubled to left center to score Mears for the first run and Ferguson followed with a two-run homer to left field to give Towson an early three-run cushion.
 
Olivia Pagano got the Lady Bears on the scoreboard in the third inning when she crushed the pitch over the right center fence to cut the Tigers' lead to 3-1.
 
Towson got the run back in the bottom half of the third when Ferguson hit another two-run shot, this time to center field to increase the lead to 5-1. It was the second homer of the game for Ferguson.
 
After Rodriguez struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers went back to work, scoring three more runs all with two outs to make it an 8-1 game. Towson took advantage of an error in the outfield, to score two runs and Benton followed with a RBI single to center field to bring in Kinsley Peek for the third run of the inning.
 
Hunter Newman doubled to right field to score Pagano from second base to bring the guests within 8-2 in the fifth inning.
 
The Lady Bears added their third and final run in the sixth inning when Millie Cousins flied out to centerfield to score Gianna Ettore. The Tigers would end the game in the bottom half of the inning on Benton's home run.
 
Pagano and Newman each went 1-for-3 with a RBI. Pagano scored two runs. Ettore also went 1-for-3 at the plate and scored a run, while Alison Keener had a hit and a walk and Olivia Garner drew a game-high two walks. Serena Rodriguez tossed a game-high three strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
   
Morgan State will be back at it on Saturday, Feb. 28, when for Day 2 of the DeMarini Tiger Clash when it opens against Cornell at 10 a.m., followed by Merrimack at 12:30 p.m. Both games will be played at Tiger Softball Stadium on the Towson campus.
 
 
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.