The Spring Hill softball team split a pair of games against visiting Tuskegee Saturday afternoon, opening the double-header with a 3-2 victory before falling 1-0 in the nightcap. The Badgers moved their overall record to 16-14 and after the 1-0 loss in the back-end of the doubleheader, 11-1 in SIAC play.
Game 1: Spring Hill 3, Tuskegee 2
Spring Hill fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but clawed their way back to force extra innings, setting up
Jesslyn Gordon to hit a walk-off double to give the Badgers their eleventh conference win in a row.
Meadow Villar went 3-for-3 with a solo home run, while
Janci Aube,
Oscha Carter,
Bethany Ahrens, and Gordon each had one hit. Ahrens earned the win, giving up two unearned runs in the first inning on one hit and striking out 6.
After a pair of errors helped Tuskegee score two in the top of the first inning, Villar's solo shot to lead off the bottom of the second inning cut the Badger deficit in half and made it 2-1.
That's where the game score stayed for a while as the pitchers settled in and limited the number of baserunners allowed. That was, until the seventh inning, with Spring Hill down to their final three outs.
Fontenot reached on an error, then moved to second on Villar's single. Ahrens beat out an infield single to load the bases with no one out.
McKenzie King hit a sac fly to score Fontenot, tying the game at 2-2, but
Abigail Christ, pinch-running for Ahrens, was thrown out trying to advance to second on the play, leaving just a runner on third with two outs. A strikeout would end the inning and bring the game to extras.
After Ahrens retired the Tuskegee hitters in order, Spring Hill was back to the plate with a chance to win the game. Carter hit a one-out single, followed by another single by Aube to put the game-winning run on second base. Gordon hit a deep shot to right field that brought in Carter for the walk-off victory.
Game 2: Spring Hill 0, Tuskegee 1
Leighanna Turk gave up just one first-inning run, striking out four batters, but Spring Hill's bats were held in check as the Badgers would get shutout, 1-0, in game two.
Spring Hill was being no-hit through five innings, but they came alive in the sixth inning, putting forth their best chance at tying the game or taking the lead.
Oscha Carter hit a one-out double and then advanced to third as
Janci Aube beat out an infield single to put runners on first and third. Game one hero
Jesslyn Gordon flew out to center field but it was not deep enough to bring in Carter and then
Meredith Fontenot lined out to end the inning. Spring Hill went down in order in the seventh inning to close out the 1-0 defeat.
The Badgers close out the three-game series with Tuskegee tomorrow, March 22nd. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
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