The Malone University softball won a pair of tight games on Wednesday. The Pioneers defeated William Woods 4-3 early on Wednesday morning. Malone would go on to beat Waldorf 8-7 in another game that came down to the wire.
Game One Recap
Mikayla Fowler led the game off with a double. A
Caley Ritts single would bring Fowler home to give the Pioneers a 1-0 advantage. William Woods' Hannah Campbell would answer back with a single and a steal to get herself in scoring position. Brailee Schulte would bring Campbell home to tie the game 1-1.
William Woods would take a 2-1 lead in the third inning, and add one more run in the fourth to go up 3-1.
The Pioneers rallied in the fifth, scoring three runs to take the 4-3 lead.
Madison Corrick took one for the team, getting on first base after being hit by a pitch. In the next at-bat,
Ashley Beck smashed a double to right to bring Corrick home. A single by
Caley Ritts would score Beck from second, tying the game up at three apiece. Ritts would move to second on an error by the right fielder.
Kennedy Johnson came in to run for Ritts, and crossed home plate to give the Pioneers the lead on a sacrifice bunt from
Emily Beck.
The Pioneers were able to hold off William Woods' offense for the remainder of the game, to take the 4-3 victory.
Game Two Recap
Ashley Beck and
Caley Ritts doubled on back-to-back at-bats to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead in the first.
In the second inning,
Emily Beck started things off with a single. The next three Malone batters would all walk, bringing
Emily Beck home, pushing the Malone lead to 2-0.
Mikayla Fowler hit a sacrifice fly to left to score
Anna Myers and give Malone a 3-0 lead.
Waldorf would get on the board in the fourth, scoring one run on a Malone error. The Pioneers would make up for their hiccup by adding two more runs of their own in the fourth. With the bases juiced,
Allyson Gruen hit a single that would bring home Corrick and Johnson.
Trailing Malone 5-1, Waldorf warmed up their bats and started cooking in the top of the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, Brittani Sanchez singled to left and scored two, cutting the Malone lead to 5-3. Waldorf would load up the bases for Kennedy Vinchattle, who sent everybody home with a grand slam, giving Waldorf a 7-5 advantage.
Despite the big inning by Waldorf, Malone refused to back down and answered with three runs of their own to regain their lead for good in the bottom of the fifth.
Kendall Reidenbach stepped in and swung momentum back into Malone's favor with a leadoff single that landed her on second after an error by Waldorf. Caley Friend would reach first on a walk. Friend and Reidenbach would both move into scoring position after a passed ball. Reidenbach would score on a ground ball hit by
Allison Mercado. Caley Frield would cross home plate and tie the game on a single to right by
Mikayla Fowler. Fowler stole second and would score on a sacrifice fly by
Madison Corrick to give Malone the 8-7 lead.
Allyson Gruen stepped onto the mound in the sixth and pitched two shutout innings to help Malone secure the victory. Gruen earned a save for her performance, while
Isabella Roberts picked up her second win of the season in the contest.
Up Next
The Pioneers take on Mount Aloysius at 11:30 and Shaw at 1:30 on Thursday to wrap-up their trip in Myrtle Beach.
