KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Webster University softball team is set to begin its longest road trip of the season here Friday afternoon as the Gorloks are scheduled to play eight games over a span of five days as part of the Diamond 9 Sunkissed Games held at the Osceola County Softball Complex (1900 Ball Park Road, Kissimmee, Fla., 34741).
 
Webster, who is 1-3 on the young season, will open play in the Diamond 9 Sunkissed Games on Friday, March 9 as they face both Bluffton and Thiel College in back-to-back games at 3:45 p.m. EST and 6 p.m. EST respectively. On Saturday, March 10, the Gorloks will face Alfred University and 23rd-ranked Kean University at 11:15 a.m. EST and 1:30 p.m. EST and then will meet Arcadia University and Eastern Connecticut State on Sunday, March 11 at 3:45 p.m. EDT and 6 p.m. EDT respectively. The team will have Monday off, before concluding their spring trip to Florida on Tuesday, March 13 against Springfield College and Oswego State at 1:30 p.m. EDT and 3:45 p.m. EDT respectively. Tuesday's games will be played at the Fortune Road Softball Complex (2500 Fortune Road) in Kissimmee.
 
"We really like to play tougher teams and our schedule in Florida will have us playing some tough teams and that will only help us continue to get better as a softball team as we head into conference play," Webster head coach Chris Eaton said. "Two of the teams we're playing qualified for the NCAA Tournament a year ago, so we will get a chance to play some really good opponents on a neutral field and see where we are at as a team."
 
The NCAA Tournament teams from last season the Gorloks will face in Florida are Kean and Springfield. Kean, who is ranked 23rd in the latest NFCA Division III Coaches Poll, advanced to the super regionals last season before falling in two games to eventual Division III National Champion, Virginia Wesleyan, while Springfield went 0-2 in the regional tournament they hosted.
 
Webster comes into its Florida trip on a high note after spliting a doubleheader this past Sunday at 15th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis. In that doubleheader, the Bears earned a 5-1 win in the opener, before the Gorloks used a pitching gem from senior Morgan Mansur (Decatur, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) to post a 5-0 win in the nightcap. That victory over the Bears was the first for Webster since the 2009 season when the Gorloks picked up a 7-2 win over the Bears in the 2009 NCAA Regional Tournament in Indianola, Iowa.
 
In the 5-0 shutout against the Bears, Mansur, who was named this week's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week, scattered five hits, walked none, fanned one and allowed just one runner to reach third base. Mansur also contributed at the plate with a school record tying three doubles.
 
Eaton is hopeful that win will carry over for this team this coming weekend.
 
"I'm hopeful that win on Sunday over WashU will carry over to our trip to Florida," the Webster coach added. "We are a team that is improving and getting better each day."
 
Sunday's doubleheader split at WashU followed Webster's two losses at home on Saturday to open the 2018 campaign against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. UWP opened with a 6-4 win, before posting a 14-6 win halted in sixth due to the 8-run mercy rule. In the two games against the Pioneers, Webster committed nine errors that led to 14 unearned runs in the doubleheader.
 
Leading the way offensively for Webster heading into the eight-game trip to Florida is senior catcher Terri Dearth (Lemont, Ill./Southwestern Illinois) and senior infielder Katlyn Garza (O'Fallon, Mo./Ft. Zumwalt North). Dearth, who has played in just two games this season as she is also a member of the Gorloks women's basketball team, is hitting .500 as she is 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and has drawn three walks, while Garza is hitting .455 on the year as she has five hits, has scored two runs, has one RBI and has been walked four times. On the season, Webster has drawn 18 walks in four games.
 
In the circle, Mansur is 1-1 on the year and has recorded an 0.54 earned run average. In 13 innings of work, she has allowed 12 hits, five runs (one earned run), while striking out three and walking none.
 
All of the games (with the exception of the two games on Tuesday) will be streamed online by Stretch Internet and the cost to watch the stream is $12 per game or $50 for an event pass. In addition, live in-game statistics will be available through Webster's athletics website at www.websterathletics.com.
 
Following its trip to Florida, the Gorloks will take a week off before opening up SLIAC play on Wednesday, March 21 with a doubleheader at Greenville University beginning at 3 p.m.