FINDLAY, Ohio – The Malone University softball team was ousted from the 2021 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament on Thursday afternoon with consecutive losses to #6 Ohio Dominican University and #2 Hillsdale College. The Pioneers softball season comes to a close with a 24-11-1 overall record.
 
GAME ONE RECAP:
Pitcher Kelsey Byers worked her way out of early jams unscathed in game one of the afternoon. Ohio Dominican put runners in scoring position in the first three innings, including a frame where Byers struck out four, but a runner reached via a wild pitch.
 
The first base hit of the game for Malone came in the bottom of the third when Lauren Bennett shot one to the left side of the infield. Bailey Byers also reached on an infield single in the inning, but the game remained scoreless through three.
 
Ohio Dominican scratched two runs across in the top of the fourth with three base hits. Malone countered that with one of their own in the bottom half, with Lexi Betz hitting a leadoff triple and April Howser driving her in with a single off the fists.
 
The 2-1 Panther lead remained until the seventh inning, when both teams woke up the bats. Ohio Dominican brought home two runs in the seventh with a pair of two-out RBI base knocks. Lauren Bennett led off the bottom half with a single, her third hit of the game, and Bailey Byers drove her in with a single the other way to right. Following an Erika Johnson base on balls, Lexi Betz delivered the game-tying blow by way of a two-RBI double off the right center field fence.
 
The teams headed into extra innings 4-4, where in the eighth, all six hitters (three from each side) grounded out. Ohio Dominican struck with a two-out homerun to center field to make it 5-4 in the ninth and the Pioneers were put away in the bottom half after a harmless Bailey Byers single.
 
Malone made their way to the loser's bracket with the loss to face the #2 seeded Hillsdale Chargers, who dropped a wild back-and-forth game 9-8 against the #7 Ursuline Arrows.
 
GAME TWO RECAP:
As the visiting team against the number two seed Hillsdale Chargers in the elimination game, the Pioneers got two base hits in the first via Erika Johnson and Lexi Betz, but failed to cross the plate.
 
In the circle, Kelsey Byers sent nine consecutive batters back to the dugout after unsuccessful at-bats in the first three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, a pair of walks burnt the Pioneers as the first two runners reached on free bases. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners over and the Chargers knocked a single into left to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Byers bounced back for a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth and finally got something going offensively in the sixth. Designated player Taylor Willey started the inning with a walk, and Bailey Byers sent a homerun into the right field corner to take a 2-1 advantage.
 
Just as quickly as Malone took the lead, Hillsdale stormed back to secure four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Three consecutive singles with two away made it 5-2 Chargers and the number two seed put the Pioneers away with three straight outs in the seventh.
 
PIONEER POINTS:

• Senior catcher and G-MAC Player of the Year Bailey Byers put a bow on her Pioneer career with a 5-for-8 day with three RBIs and two runs scored. In 2021, Byers finished with the school record for best batting average (.502), slugging percentage (1.044) and on-base percentage (.570) in a single season.
• Kelsey Byers pitched all 16 innings played on Thursday, including all nine in the extra innings game one. Byers tallied 13 strikeouts to finish the year at 236 K's in 189.0 innings pitched.
• Lauren Bennett was 3-for-4 in game one versus Ohio Dominican.
• Lexi Betz recorded a hit in both games and was 2-for-4 in game one with a two-RBI double to tie the game and a run scored.
• April Howser and Mikayla Kesel each recorded a game one hit.

 
The Malone softball program would like to thank everyone for their continued support of the program throughout the 2021 season. Thank you for contributing to the many memories that Pioneer Nation was able to be a part of this season.