The Spring Hill softball team closed out the 2026 regular season with a pair of wins over the United States Sports University Thursday afternoon. The Badgers won 9-2 and 13-4 in their final two tune-up games, moving their record to 30-22 overall before the start of the 2026 SIAC Softball Tournament gets underway next week.
Game One: Spring Hill 9, U.S. Sports University 2
Spring Hill scored nine unanswered runs to erase a 2-0 deficit and defeat U.S. Sports University, 9-2.
Oscha Carter reached base a game-high five times, going 3-for-3 from the plate with 2 walks. She also scored a game-high 2 runs.
Bethany Ahrens and
Destiny Pierce each had 2 hits, with Pierce tying
Meadow Villar with 2 RBI apiece. Villar,
Janci Aube,
McKenzie King, and
Abigail Christ each had one hit for the Badgers.
Spring Hill fell behind 2-0 as USSU plated one run in both the first and second innings. But after being shutout for the first two innings, the Badgers came alive in the third inning and tied the game. Villar hit a sacrifice fly to score Carter from third to make it 2-1, then Ahrens doubled to center field to score King and the game was tied heading into the fourth inning.
The tides shifted in favor of the Badgers in the fifth inning as an errant throw helped put Spring Hill on top for the first time in the game. Ahrens led off with a single and
Kayla Coley-Drayton came in to pinch run.
Natalee Curry laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and as she was being thrown out at first, the speedy Coley-Drayton was on her way to third. USSU's second baseman tried to catch her at third base, but the throw sailed and allowed the Badgers to score the go-ahead run.
It wasn't until the sixth inning that Spring Hill broke the game open, scoring six runs in the frame to take control. Villar hit a single to center to bring in Carter from second, the
Belle Sheffield, in to run for Villar, scored after
Molly Pitts drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-2. Pierce followed with a double down the left field line, scoring two, and then Christ and Aube each had RBI singles to bring the score to 9-2.
Leighanna Turk came in to pitch for
Emma Curry and went 1-2-3, closing the door on the Spring Hill victory.
Game Two: Spring Hill 13, U.S. Sports University
Spring Hill scored six runs in the first inning and rolled to a shortened 13-4 victory to sweep the double-header.
The Badgers had 17 hits in the game with the top of the lineup accounting for 9 of those hits.
McKenzie King was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI,
Oscha Carter was 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored, and both
Janci Aube and
Meadow Villar were 2-for-4, Villar with 2 RBI and Aube with 1 RBI.
Natalee Curry,
Destiny Pierce, and
Abigail Christ also had 2 hits apiece, Pierce posting her best game of the season as she added 5 RBI and 3 runs scored.
Leighanna Turk pitched the final three innings, allowing just two hits and no runs while striking out three for the win.
King hit an RBI single to bring in Aube, who led off the game with a double, to score the game's opening run. Then the next batter, Villar, singled to score King and quickly double the Badgers' advantage. A dropped fly ball and a single by Curry loaded the bases, setting up Pierce to hit a 2-RBI double to make it 4-0.
Belle Sheffield grounded out for the second out of the inning, but Curry scored on the play to up the score to 5-0 and Christ singled to wrap-up the six-run inning.
U.S. Sports University did get back into the game with four runs in the top of the second inning, but Pierce answered in the bottom half of the inning with a three-run home run in the bottom of the third to take Spring Hill's lead from two runs to five runs on one swing of the bat.
The score remained 9-4 until the fourth inning when the Badger offense got going again. Carter hit a two-out single to keep the inning alive and King followed with a single of her own to put two runners on. Villar came through with a single to center, scoring Carter and making it 10-4.
Then after a scoreless half inning by USSU, the Badgers scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to bring an end to the game. Aube grounded out, bringing in Pierce and sending Sheffield to third to make the score 11-4. Then two batters later, King tripled to score both runners and give Spring Hill the 13-4 victory.
Spring Hill now turns its attention to the 2026 SIAC Softball Championship which gets underway on Monday, April 27th from Columbus, Ga. The Badgers finished as the two seed in the SIAC West Division and will open against Savannah State University at 11:30 a.m.
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