The Malone University softball team opened their season with a triple-header on Monday. The Pioneers fell to Alderson Broaddus in extra innings 10-9, bounced back to defeat Ohio Valley 8-1, and then fell to West Virginia State 8-0 in five innings.
 
Game One Recap
 
The Pioneers dug a large whole early in the game. The team trailed 5-0 before finding some life in the third inning when the Pioneers scored four runs. Senior Mikayla Fowler got the Pioneers on the board when she smashed a triple which brought in Clara Friend.
 
Alderson Broaddus would add on one more run in the top of the fourth, but the Pioneers bats would stay hot. A three-run inning in the bottom of the fourth inning game Malone a 7-6 advantage.
 
Alderson Broaddus would answer back with three runs of their own in the top of the fifth to regain the lead 9-7. With two outs and one on, Allison Mercado came in to pinch hit and hit an RBI double to right field. Clara Friend answered the bell right after Mercado with a double of her own to tie things back up at 9 runs apiece.
 
After the fifth, both team's offenses quieted down through regulation and into extra innings. In the ninth inning, the international tie-breaker rule came into effect, in which each team starts the inning with a runner on second base. A pair of errors by the Malone defense on a sacrifice bunt allowed the runner to score, taking the 10-9 advantage. Malone had a chance for rebuttal, but was unable to bring its runner home in the bottom of the frame..
 
Ashley Beck led the team with three hits in the game, picking up two RBIs as well.
 
Game Two Recap
 
Malone got the bats going early in game two. With two outs in the top of the first, Ashley Beck singled to centerfield. Allyson Gruen doubled to right on the next at-bat to get the Pioneers on the board. After a single by Emily Beck moved Gruen to third she would score on a wild pitch to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead after one.
 
The Pioneers would add a run on a wild pitch again in the second inning. Caley Ritts walked, and would find her way home after a wild pitch, a single by Maria Mokler, and another wild pitch.
 
Ohio Valley would score their only run of the contest in the top of the third inning after an error by the Pioneers.
 
Malone would tack on three more runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by another pinch-hitting double by Mercado that brought in Ritts and Gruen.
 
After singling and scoring in the fifth inning, Ashley Beck hit an inside the park homerun in the 6^th which also brought in Mikayla Fowler to give the Pioneers an 8-1 advantage that would hold through the remainder of the contest.
 
Ashley Beck went 3 of 4 in the game, with one homerun and two RBIs. Allyson Gruen went a perfect 3 for 3 in the batter's box.
 
The freshmen trio of Isabella Roberts, Samantha Fruchey and Allyson Gruen allowed no earned runs in game two of the triple header.
 
Game Three Note
 
The Pioneers fell 8-0 in five innings in their third game on Monday. Madison Corrick and Caley Ritts had Malone's only two hits in the contest. West Virginia State held a 3-0 lead before breaking the game open with a 4-run inning in the fourth. West Virginia State would tack on one more run in the fifth inning to pick up the 8-0 victory. 

Up Next
 
Malone will have a rematch with West Virginia State tomorrow at 1:30 in Myrtle Beach before taking on Penn State Schuykill in the second half of the double-header at 3:30.