The Hope College softball team split two games Saturday afternoon as the Flying Dutch continued their spring break trip to Florida, defeating Bowdoin College (Maine), 9-1 in six innings, and falling to Tufts University (Massachusetts), 8-1. 

The Flying Dutch are now 5-4 on the season. 

Hope took advantage of wildness and defensive miscues to seize control of the game against Bowdoin in the third inning. The Flying Dutch scored five runs without the benefit of a base hit. Hope received six walks, including three with the bases loaded to force in runs, while Bowdoin committed two errors and had a passed ball. 

Hope added two more runs in the fourth. Sophomore rightfielder Lexie DeHoop of Hudsonville, Michigan (Unity Christian) opened the inning with a single, and junior designated player Sydney Zombo of Clinton Township, Michigan (Fraser) doubled DeHoop to third. Junior center fielder Peyton Benjamin then followed with another double, scoring DeHoop and Zombo to boost the Hope lead to 7-0. 

After Bowdoin got on the board with a home run in the fourth, Hope added single runs in the fifth and sixth to seal the win by the run rule. In the fifth, junior shortstop Grace Henry of Hudsonville, Michigan (Hudsonville) singled, stole second and rode home on a double by senior second baseman Cayley Ebeling of Shelby Township, Michigan (Utica). 

In the sixth, Hope got its final run when Benjamin and Henry executed a double steal, with Benjamin scoring on the play. 

The Flying Dutch put together a 10-hit attack in the win, with Benjamin leading the way with a 3-for-4 performance and two RBIs. Zombo reached base four times on two hits and two walks, and DeHoop went 2-for-4. 

Sophomore pitcher Grace Connelly of Grandville, Michigan (Grandville) picked up the win in the circle, scattering five hits over four innings to improve her record to 3-1. She struck out three and did not walk a batter. Junior Jennaka Bultman of Shawnee Mission, Kansas (Shawnee Mission) pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out two. 

In the second game, Tufts jumped on the Flying Dutch for seven runs in the first two innings, two in the first and five in the second. 

Hope got on the board in the third inning when freshman left fielder Kennedi Pochmara of Clinton Township, Michigan (Chippewa Valley) doubled and scored on an RBI single by Benjamin. 

The Flying Dutch had six hits against the Jumbos, led by Zombo with a double and a single. 

Junior pitcher Alaina Adams of Oak Creek, Wisconsin took the loss, giving up six runs in one inning of work to fall to 1-2 on the season. Junior pitcher Samantha Vermeesch of Ithaca, Michigan (Ithaca) held Tufts to two runs and seven hits in six innings of relief, striking out five and walking none. 

Hope's spring trip continues on Monday with two games in Winter Haven, Florida – first a 9 a.m. contest against Hamilton (New York) College, followed by an 11:30 a.m. game against Middlebury (Vermont) College.