JACKSONVILLE, Fla.— The Montreat softball team started its trip to Florida with a doubleheader versus the Trinity Baptist College Eagles in Jacksonville Monday afternoon. Thanks to a 12-1 triumph in five innings and a 16-5 victory, the Cavaliers swept their non-conference twin bill and improved to 11-3 on the season.
Jasmine Rachal doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first of the initial competition to give the Cavs a 1-0 lead and start a stretch of three straight innings with a run for the visitors.
Makayla Reid notched an RBI single in the second and
Dayton Kell followed suit in the third to bring the score to 3-0 through three.
Though the Eagles scraped across a run in the fourth, Montreat blew the game open with a 9-spot in the fifth. Four hits and five plate appearances with runs batted in allowed the Cavaliers to push the advantage to 11 as
Haley Fethke,
Victoria Alcantar, Reid and
Hannah Henderson registered RBIs before
Amayia Hernandez homered to clear the juiced bags and make it 12-1.
Alcantar, who retired a stretch of nine straight in the middle innings, collected her sixth win in the circle as she struck out a pair of TBC batters.
Kendall Rubel closed out the victory with a perfect fifth frame. Rachal and Hernandez both ended game one 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored, and Hernandez (4) and Reid (2) recorded multiple RBIs.
Although it took the teams over two frames to score in the second competition, there was no lack of offense as the Cavaliers put up crooked numbers in the last five innings of the ballgame. Hernandez fired a 2-run shot in the third to break the ice, and, though the home side plated one run in both the third and fourth coupled with a 3-run fifth, the Montreat batting order did its damage.
Cunningham singled in one in the fourth and
Elizabeth Gergen blasted her first collegiate home run, a grand slam, to bring the lead to 7-1 at the midpoint. Kell doubled in a run and a sacrifice fly then brought the score to 9-2 in the top of the fifth. Trinity Baptist (2-14) closed the gap to 9-5; however, that's as close as the hosts would get as the Cavs tallied seven unanswered the rest of the way.
A 2-run top of the sixth and a 5-run seventh, highlighted by
Makenzie Ritchie's first home run of her career that brought in three, sealed the lopsided 16-5 final. Exactly four Cavaliers drove in multiple runs, while as many scored more than once and four grabbed two hits. Reid (2-2), Hernandez (2-4), Gergen (2-4) and Rachal (2-5) combined for eight of the team's 13 base knocks. Gergen (3), Cunningham (3),
Alanna Hernandez (2) and
Maddox Pleasants (2) all scored multiple times and Gergen (4), Ritchie (3),
Amayia Hernandez (2) and Cunningham (2) each drove in at least two in the second matchup. In the circle,
Deanna Waddell picked up the win by surrendering just two earned runs over four innings, while Rubel secured the team's victory with two scoreless frames, allowing a pair of hits and fanning three opposing hitters.
Softball continues its road trip with a pair of games at the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Melbourne, Fla. tomorrow. First pitch against Aquinas College is slated for 10 a.m.
