CANTON, Ohio – The Malone University softball team swept Ursuline College on Friday with an 8-3 win in game one and a 7-6 victory in the second matchup. The Pioneers hit five homeruns as a team, two coming off the bats of Bailey Byers and Lexi Betz, with Emily Betts crushing her first career round-tripper in game one.
 
Malone goes into Senior Day on Saturday with a 16-7-1 record, 10-6 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) action. The Pioneers have won eight of their last 10 games, all of which have come inside the G-MAC. The Ursuline Arrows fall to 5-17 on the season and 5-5 in league play.
 
GAME ONE RECAP:
Ursuline scored a run in each of the first two innings of game one, taking advantage of a Malone error in the first and by way of a solo homerun in the second inning. Elizabeth Dyke and Lauren Bennett put themselves in scoring position in the bottom of the second with a single and a double. The Pioneers got their first run across by way of a wild pitch, but the batter Emily Betts knocked her first career homerun over the center field fence to give Malone a 3-2 lead.
 
The Arrows tied the game up at three in the top of the fourth with a pair of two-out hits, but the Pioneers were able to answer right away in the bottom half. Morgan Wilhelm got the fourth going with a single through the left side of the infield and advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Betts recorded her third RBI of the game with a hit back up the middle. Later in the frame, Erika Johnson knocked a triple into right center field to make it 5-3 Malone after four.
 
Pioneer pitcher Kelsey Byers tossed a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth to shut down the Arrow offense. Four singles, including a two RBI blooper down the left field line from Bailey Byers, gave Byers insurance in the circle at 7-3. Lexi Betz started the sixth with a solo shot to add one more to the Malone scoring ledger.
 
Byers allowed nothing but a harmless single in the seventh to put away game one and secure the complete game win, her 15th win of the season at the time. Byers struck out 10 in the opening contest.
 
GAME TWO RECAP:
After a scoreless top of the first for Byers, her sister Bailey Byers took a first pitch fastball and deposited it over the left field fence to start game two with a bang. Ursuline tried to answer with a pair of runners reaching without a hit, but both were left stranded.
 
Two walks and a single in the first four batters loaded the bases for the second at-bat of Bailey Byers. Once again on a first pitch fastball, Byers cleared the bases with a ball over the fence, this time into the airstream in right center field. The grand slam was the second of the season for Byers. Lexi Betz followed it up with her second solo homerun of the night to make it 6-0 through three.
 
Ursuline collected three hits in the fourth to bounce back with two runs, but were unable to dig themselves out of the hole. A Lexi Betz walk, April Howser single and Mikayla Kesel RBI base knock made it 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth.
 
The Arrows did their best to make things interesting in the final inning by scoring four runs on four hits and used a Pioneer error, but ultimately fell short 7-6. Kelsey Byers surrendered only two earned runs in the win, her 16th.
 
PIONEER POINTS:

• Bailey Byers hit her fifth homerun of the week with her pair of dingers today. Byers went 4-for-5 in the game with three walks, a team-best seven RBIs and two runs scored.
• Along with hitting her first career homerun, Emily Betts went 4-for-6 on the day, including a perfect 3-for-3 game one with three RBIs and two runs.
• Lexi Betz connected for her seventh and eighth longballs of the season on Friday. 17 of Betz's 27 hits in 2021 have been extra base hits and has upped her average to .375.
• Mikayla Kesel and Lauren Bennett were each 2-for-4 in game one. Kesel drove in a run and Bennett came across to score three times.

 
UP NEXT:
Bailey Byers will be celebrated prior to the next home doubleheader on Saturday, April 15 versus Lake Erie College. First pitch at Pioneer Softball Field tomorrow will be at noon, with the Senior Day festivities taking place beforehand.