FORT VALLEY, Ga.— The Montreat softball team continued its road trip in Georgia Friday afternoon as the Cavs met the Fort Valley State University Wildcats for a doubleheader. With a 4-3 defeat in game one and a 9-0 run-rule victory in the second contest, the Cavaliers are now 7-1 on the year.
 
Four of the first five Cavaliers reached base to begin game one as the Montreat offense went to work in the opening half-inning. Amayia Hernandez got the scoring started with a double steal before Haley Fethke, a transfer from Methodist University, plated Victoria Alcantar and Makayla Reid with a double to left field to put the Cavs up 3-0.
 
Deanna Waddell retired the initial seven Wildcats; however, a trio of 2-out hits from the home side brought the score level at three through three frames. FVSU (1-3) then took a 4-3 lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Though the Cavaliers registered runners in scoring position in each of the final four innings, the Wildcats stranded the visitors on base in each instance, handing Montreat its first loss of the season. In the defeat, five different Cavs tallied hits, while Fethke ended with the team's two runs batted in.
 
"A few timely hits by FVSU were the difference in game one. We really lacked getting the big hit in the first game to bust it open, but I'm really proud of how we bounced back in game two," mentioned head coach Corbin Weeks.
 
Like in game one, the Cavaliers struck three times in the top of the first inning in the latter matchup. After the leadoff and 2-hole batters reached to start the contest, Alcantar helped her cause in the circle with a 2-RBI hit up the middle. A bases-loaded walk from Elizabeth Gergen brought across the other run to make it 3-0 immediately.
 
A wild pitch helped Montreat lead 4-0 in the fourth before the Cavs blew the competition open in the sixth. The first two Cavaliers failed to reach; however, with two outs, the visitors used a string of offense to put the game away. A hit-by-pitch and five consecutive hits, including four straight RBI base knocks, helped the Cavs pull ahead by nine thanks to five runs.
 
Needing only three outs to secure a mercy-rule triumph, the Cavaliers notched a 1-2-3 inning behind Alcantar. Alcantar cruised in the circle, allowing just a pair of hits and facing only 21 batters on 69 pitches through her complete-game effort. She surrendered a single hit over her final 19 batters faced and sent the Wildcats down in order in half of the six innings.
 
Offensively, four Montreat hitters notched two hits, while Alcantar (3 RBIs) and Alanna Hernandez (2 RBIs) both drove in multiple runs. Amayia Hernandez, Jasmine Rachal and Alcantar all scored twice in the win.
 
Softball now plays at Carolina University on Thursday. First pitch of game one in Clemmons, N.C. is slated for 1 p.m.