The Spring Hill College softball team returned to action for the first time in nearly two weeks and swept a pair of road games at the United States Sports University Thursday afternoon. The Badgers moved their record to 22-18 ahead of a SIAC weekend at LeMoyne-Owen.
Janci Aube went a combined 5-for-7 in the two games, pushing her batting average to 0.392 on the season, while scoring 3 runs and driving in 2 runs.
Meadow Villar had a pair of hits and 3 RBI in the double-header while
Oscha Carter had two hits, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored.
Game 1: Spring Hill 6, United States Sports Academy 3
Bethany Ahrens allowed two runs and struck out four, and helped herself out from the batter's box by going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI as the Badgers took game one, 6-3.
Aube opened the game with a single and stole second to quickly move herself into scoring position. Carter laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her to third, which was critical as
Jesslyn Gordon's fly out to left field was deep enough to score Aube to get the Badgers on the board.
US Sports University tied the game in the bottom of the first and the score remained there until the third inning. Aube got things going once again with a one-out walk. Carter followed with a single, which advanced Aube to second, but during the play, an error by the shortstop allowed Aube to come around to score and put Spring Hill back on top, 2-1. Villar's two-out single brought in Carter to double the Badgers' lead, then
Molly Pitts hit a single up the middle to bring in Villar and gave Spring Hill up 4-1 after three.
The Eagles cut the Spring Hill lead to 4-2 in the bottom half of the inning, but the Badgers limited the damage and maintained their two-run advantage into the fifth inning. Ahrens added an insurance run, driving in Gordon to make it 5-2, then two innings later, she doubled down the left field line to score
Kayla Coley-Drayton to push the lead to 6-2. US Sports University scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh, but Ahrens shut the door to secure the 6-3 victory.
Game 2: Spring Hill 8, United States Sports Academy 5
Spring Hill scored seven runs over the final three innings to erase a 5-1 deficit and pull-out an 8-5 victory to complete the double-header sweep.
The Badgers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Villar singled past the third baseman to score Carter. The Eagles tied the game in the bottom half of the inning then plated four runs in the second inning to push their lead to 5-1.
Spring Hill continued to struggle at the plate, going down in order in both the third and fourth innings, but they came alive in the fifth inning and started their comeback. Pitts led off the inning with a single, then after advancing to second on a groundout,
Amanda Glowacki singled to score her and make it 5-2. A single by
McKenzie King forced a pitching change and the Badgers took immediate advantage as Aube doubled to left field, scoring both Glowacki and King to trim their deficit to just one with two innings to go.
Emma Curry, who came on in relief after the Badgers fell behind 5-1, had silenced the Eagles' bats for nearly three innings and continued to do so with a scoreless fifth. That allowed Spring Hill to get the bats back in their hands. They struck quickly in the top of the sixth, tying the game at 5-5, and then in the seventh, the Badgers pushed across three runs to take their first lead since the first inning.
Spring Hill led off the seventh inning with back-to-back hits, a single by King and a double by Aube, to put runners on second and third. Carter reached on an error, scoring King in the process to make it 6-5. Aube and Carter both scored on groundouts before the inning came to an end with the Badgers holding an 8-5 lead. Curry retired the Eagles' hitters in order in the bottom of the seventh to clinch the sweep.
The Badgers head to Memphis, Tenn. for a three-game set against SIAC foe LeMoyne-Owen this weekend. The opening double-header starts at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 11th.
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