The Malone University softball team tallied a 1-1 record on Monday afternoon in its home and conference opener against visiting Lake Erie College.

Back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Erika Johnson and Madison Corrick in the bottom of the seventh inning gave Malone a 6-5 walk-off win in game one.  The Storm then outslugged the Pioneers by a 14-10 margin in the finale.

Malone's record moved to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference following Monday's games while Lake Erie is now 5-7 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
 
Game One Recap
After Lake Erie jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Madison Corrick led off the bottom half of the frame with a home run over the leftfield fence.  Corrick then knotted the score at 2-2 in the second inning with a two-out RBI single.

The Storm grabbed a 3-2 advantage in the top of the third but Malone answered with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half to take its first lead of the game at 4-3.

A two-out, two-run homer put Lake Erie on top 5-4 in the top of the fifth.  The score then remained unchanged until the bottom of the seventh when the Pioneers rallied back.

Anissa Seese got things started for the Pioneers with a one-out single through the right side of the infield.  A groundout moved Seese to second. Down to their final out, Nicole Ferrara kept the Pioneers' hopes alive with an infield single.  With runners at first and third, freshman outfielder Erika Johnson stepped to the plate and tied the game with a single down the leftfield line.  Corrick then sent the Pioneer bench into a celebration with her fourth hit of the contest – a looping single to left that brought Ferrara home from second with the winning run.

Malone racked up 16 hits in the game.  Corrick was 4-for-5 in the contest with the homerun, a double, three RBI and one scored.  Freshman first baseman Emily Betts went 3-for4 in the game while Ferrera and Johnson posted two hits apiece and catcher Bailey Byers ripped a triple into the right-centerfield gap.

Freshman Kelsey Byers went the distance in the circle for Malone, improving her record to 6-1 on the season after allowing five runs (three earned) and striking out seven.
 
Game Two Recap
The two squads combined for 13 extra-base hits and 31 hits total in the high-scoring finale.

Bailey Byers began the slugfest by clubbing her seventh homer of the season in the bottom of the first inning of game two to give Malone an early 1-0 advantage.  Lake Erie then sent 17 batters to the plate in the top of the second inning as the Storm exploded for 11 runs in the frame with the help of eight base hits and four Malone errors.

Despite the huge inning, the Pioneers continued to fight back over the remainder of the game.

A two-run single from Johnson made it 11-3 in the bottom of the second and Corrick then drove a two-out grand slam over the centerfield fence in the fourth to make it an 11-7 contest.  Both teams added a run in the fifth to make it 12-8 before Lake Erie tacked on two more in the top of the sixth.  With darkness quickly becoming a factor, Malone would add two runs in the bottom of the seventh but was unable to completely close the gap, falling by the 14-10 final.

Nine different Pioneers recorded at least one hit in the contest.  Johnson and Ferrera each went three for four as Ferrara registered a double and Johnson drove in three runs.

Four different Malone pitchers appeared in the game. 
 
Up Next:
Malone will be back in action at home on Wednesday with a 3:00 p.m. doubleheader against Ursuline College.