Sydney Zombo picked a perfect time for her first home run with the Hope College softball team.

The junior's three-run blast in the fifth inning sealed a 7-2 win against unbeaten Middlebury College (Vt.) on Monday at Winter Haven, Florida.

Hope bounced back from a 5-4, walk-off loss to Hamilton College (N.Y.) earlier in the morning.

Against Middlebury (5-1), the Flying Dutch entered the fifth leading 3-2. Four batters in, senior catcher Haley Bennett (Livonia, Michigan / Benjamin Franklin) singled home junior shortstop Emily Martin (Whitehall, Michigan / Whitehall). Martin finished with a team-high three hits.

One out and two batters later, Zombo (Clinton Township, Michigan / Fraser) delivered a two-out homer to bring home Bennett and senior second baseman Cayley Ebeling (Shelby Township, Michigan / Utica).

Winning pitcher Samantha Vermeesch (Ithaca, Michigan / Ithaca) scattered seven hits and two runs over five innings. The junior struck out eight and did not walk a batter.

Against Hamilton, Samantha Smith hit a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh inning off reliever junior Janneka Bultman (Shawnee, Kansas / Shawnee).

Hope grabbed a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh when junior shortstop Grace Henry (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) slugged a two-out solo homer. 

Ebeling went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer in the first and an RBI double in the fifth.

Hamilton is now 7-5 on the season.

Hope's next games are on Tuesday, March 21, at 9 a.m. against the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and 11:30 a.m. against St. Catherine University (Minn.).