There was no luck sent to the Spring Hill softball team during their St. Patrick's Day double-header as the Badgers saw their seven-game win streak come to an end in a pair of losses at West Florida.
Spring Hill's record now sits at 15-13 overall after the non-conference losses and puts their undefeated 10-0 SIAC record on the line in a three-game set versus Tuskegee this weekend.
Game 1: Spring Hill 2, West Florida 11 (F/6)
Spring Hill fell behind 5-0 early and just couldn't get the bats going in what became an 11-2 loss in game one of the double-header.
The Badgers had just 4 hits, with
Janci Aube,
Jesslyn Gordon,
Meadow Villar, and
Destiny Pierce having one each. Villar's hit produced the only runs of the game for Spring Hill as her two-run shot in the fourth inning moved her home run streak to four games and gave her 30 RBI on the year.
Game 2: Spring Hill 0, West Florida 2
Bethany Ahrens, fresh off her record-setting 21-stikeout performance in her last outing, pitched another gem for the Badgers, but Spring Hill's bats remained quiet against West Florida in the second game as the Badgers scattered just 5 hits across 7 innings in a 2-0 defeat.
Aube went 2-for-3 from the leadoff spot, Gordon and Villar extended their hit streaks to 9 and 6 games, respectively, and
Abigail Christ snapped a 0-for-9 stretch with a fifth-inning single in what was a 1-for-2 day for the sophomore.
Ahrens had seven strikeouts through the game's first three innings, but she hit a batter to open up the bottom of the fourth inning, the first time all game she had allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base. Her defense picked her up to catch the pinch runner stealing, but the ensuing batter singled to put the go-ahead run on base yet again. After a fly out made it two outs in the inning, West Florida pushed across the first run of the game, an unearned one as they took advantage of a misplayed ball in left field to go up 1-0.
The deficit doubled in the bottom of the fifth as Ahrens again put the leadoff hitter on, this time surrendering a 10-pitch walk. Later in the inning, the runner on first would score on a two-out double to deep right center and put Spring Hill behind 2-0 with two at-bats remaining.
Aube led-off the top of the sixth with a single down the left field line, but the threat was quickly halted as Gordon grounded into a double play and Spring Hill remained scoreless through six.
Villar's single again put the Badgers' leadoff hitter on base in the top of the seventh inning, but just like in the sixth, a double play sapped all life from the rally. Down to their final out, Pierce flew out to center field and sealed the 2-0 defeat.
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