The Spring Hill College Softball Team swept a pair of conference road games at Miles College on Saturday afternoon, winning 8-0 and 12-3 with both games ending after five innings.
With the wins, the Badgers opened SIAC play at 2-0 and moved to 7-9 on the year. They also reversed a stretch that saw Spring Hill drop 6-of-7 games over the last two weeks before their first SIAC weekend.
Game 1 – Spring Hill 8, Miles 0
Spring Hill scored in each of the first three innings to break open an 8-0 lead and close-out the Golden Bears in five innings.
Janci Aube opened the game with a leadoff walk, the first of five-straight batters to reach base before the first out was recorded. Aube was brought home by the next batter as
Jesslyn Gordon doubled into left field to bring her around from first to make it 1-0. Another double, this one down the left field line by
Meredith Fontenot, brought Gordon home and quickly made it 2-0.
A single by
Meadow Villar made it three-straight hits for the Badgers and put runners on the corners with
Bethany Ahrens up to bat. Villar would steal second in the middle of the at-bat, doing so before Ahrens would be hit by a pitch to load up the bases.
A good play by the Miles third baseman turned what looked like, at minimum, an RBI single into a double play, catching Villar, who was too far from the base after contact, for two quick outs. The Badgers weren't finished, though, as even with two outs, they manufactured two additional runs. The first came on the successful execution of a double steal, with
Kayla Coley-Drayton, who came in to pinch run for Ahrens, beating the throw at second and Fontenot taking home to make it 3-0. Then, later in the at-bat,
McKenzie King singled to right field to bring in Coley-Drayton and put Spring Hill up 4-0 after one.
Gordon hit a one-out double in the top of the second inning and later advanced on a passed ball to stand 60 feet from home plate. She was driven in by Fontenot's single to make it 5-0 as a inning-ending double-play two batters later ended the scoring threat with the Badgers in the lead, 5-0.
Ahrens recorded her second-straight inning setting down the Miles hitters in order, putting an already hot offense back into the box. A leadoff single by
Destiny Pierce was followed by two quick outs, but the bats got going with two outs and the Badgers put up another crooked number.
Oscha Carter singled through the right side to bring home King, making it 5-0, then stole second to move into scoring position. She was driven in on Aube's RBI double, and then Aube scored on a single by Gordon to make it 8-0 after three.
Ahrens gave up her first hit to leadoff the bottom of the third inning, but she fielded a comebacker to get the force at first for the first out and then recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
Spring Hill did not score in either the fourth or fifth innings, but neither did Miles, as Ahrens retired them in order in both the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings to complete the 1-hitter and give Spring Hill the 8-0 victory.
Overall, Ahrens struck out 7 and needed just 58 pitches to complete the 1-hit win, moving her to 4-4 on the season.
Eight of the nine batters in the starting lineup had hits, with Gordon posting a 3-for-3 game, with two RBI and two runs scored. Fontenot and King both had two-hit games, with Fontenot also recording a walk to go along with her two RBI and run scored. King had one RBI as well. Aube set the tone in the leadoff spot, reaching base twice, scoring two runs, and tacking on an RBI, and Carter, too, filled up the stat line by reaching base twice, scoring one run and driving in another.
Game Two – Spring Hill 12, Miles 3
Leighanna Turk scattered five Miles hits across five innings and allowed just one earned run as the Badgers rolled to a 12-3, run-rule-shortened win in game two of the doubleheader.
All nine starters had hits in the game, and 10 players recorded hits overall, as the Badgers totaled 16 hits on the day. Â Fontenot was one of six Spring Hill players to record multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with a home run, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored. Villar, slotted behind Fontenot in the order, went 2-for-4 with a home run of her own, 2 RBI, and a run scored.
Abigail Christ was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles, and Carter, Aube, and Gordon each had RBI to go along with a combined 4-for-8 showing at the plate.
Spring Hill would strike first in the game, doing so in the second inning to go up 1-0. Pitts singled to lead off the inning and then a King double down the left field line put two runners into scoring position with no outs. After a Christ strikeout, Carter reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases and put the Badgers in position to put a crooked number on the board. Instead, Spring Hill only pushed one run across as Aube hit a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 1-0, and Gordon flew out to end the inning.
Miles seemed to carry the momentum of getting out of the bases loaded jam into their at-bats in the bottom half of the inning as the Golden Bears plated two runs to take a 2-1 lead. But, just like in game one, even when facing two outs, the Badgers bats would play. Two fly outs led off the top of the third, but Ahrens doubled down the left field line and Pitts singled to center, putting runners on the corner. Pitts stole second to cancel the force play at second, and that baserunning move was important, as an error from the shortstop scored Ahrens and moved Pitts to third, tyin the game at 2 apiece. Christ continued the rally with a RBI single to left field and with the Badgers now back in front by one, 3-2, the bases were loaded for Carter. Carter beat out an infield single to the shortstop, scoring King from third, but Christ, who tried to catch the Golden Bears defense napping, was thrown out at home to end the inning with Spring Hill up 4-2.
Miles got one back in the bottom of the third, making it 4-3, but the Badgers' bats exploded in the top of the fourth and broke the game wide open.
Aube led off the inning with a triple and came home on a single by Gordon. A two-run home run by Fontenot doubled the Spring Hill lead from two to four, and then, Villar went back-to-back with Fontenot as her solo shot out to right center made it 8-3 in favor of the Badgers. Later in the inning, Spring Hill got an RBI single from Christ to bring home Pitts, and then Christ, after already stealing second base, successfully stole third base and scored on a throwing error by the catcher during the play to put Spring Hill up 10-3 after four innings of play.
Three straight hits to lead-off the top of the fifth inning, a single by Gordon, a RBI double by Fontenot, and a RBI single by Villar, had Spring Hill in run-rule position, up 12-3. The Badgers put two more runners on base, threatening for more, but the inning ended with a fly out leaving Spring Hill now just 3 outs away from victory.
Miles led off the inning with a single and a walk, but Turk retired the next three batters to close out the 12-3 win.
Spring Hill finishes-up the three-game series with Miles tomorrow, March 1st at 1:00 p.m.
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