MELBOURNE, Fla.— Playing its last pair of games at the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Florida before returning home on Saturday, the Montreat softball team captured a pair of triumphs and extended its win streak to six games. Against the Cornell College Rams, the Cavaliers defeated their opposition 9-1 in five innings prior to a 5-3 extra-inning victory over the Indiana Tech Warriors as Montreat moved to 15-3 on the year in the process.
In the contest with Cornell College (1-2), the Rams notched the opening run of the ballgame in the top of the first, but it was all Cavs from that point on. Montreat, who tallied runs in all four plate appearances of the run-rule shortened competition, knotted the score at one thanks to
Haley Fethke's solo shot in the first and took a 2-1 lead with an infield single from
Alanna Hernandez in the second.
A 5-run third frame consisting of five hits then put the Cavaliers up big.
Dayton Kell,
Makayla Reid and
Hannah Henderson each recorded RBI base knocks, while a Ram error and a fielder's choice grew Montreat's edge to 7-1. In the bottom of the fourth, sacrifices from Kell and
Leyna Gould made the gap eight and pushed the Cavs toward their mercy-rule victory.
In the circle,
Deanna Waddell improved to 7-1 by tossing four innings of 3-hit softball.
Leah Coffing pitched a hitless fifth frame with a strikeout to seal the win. Offensively, nine different Cavaliers registered hits, eight separate Cavs scored and seven players on the team plated runs as Montreat outhit its counterpart 11-3. Fethke and Reid both ended 2-for-3 at the dish, Kell drove in two and Fethke scored twice.
A 3-run top of the first carried the Cavaliers early against Indiana Tech. Two hits helped set the table for an RBI bunt by Kell, and Reid brought both Kell and Fethke home with her 2-RBI triple to left center that made it 3-0 after a half inning.
Indiana Tech (15-3) responded with one in the bottom of the initial frame and another two in the fourth to tie the score at 3-3; however, Montreat's pitching kept the Warriors at bay for the remainder of the matchup.
Kendall Rubel cruised in relief as she threw four spotless innings, surrendering just one hit over the span and retiring Indiana Tech with relative ease.
Due to the phenomenal pitching performance, the ballgame entered extra innings, where the Cavaliers scraped across a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to go up 5-3. A leadoff single from
Amayia Hernandez placed two in scoring position and sacrifice bunts by
Jasmine Rachal and Fethke plated the two runners. Rubel, who allowed a mere two baserunners, completed her first win of the season with a perfect bottom of the eighth in the circle.
Though the Warriors outhit the Cavs 9-6 in the contest,
Amayia Hernandez (3-4) and Reid (2-3) produced much of the offense. The former scored twice and the latter drove in two in the victory.
"This team has grit. They are tough and are seeing their hard work pay off," mentioned head coach Corbin Weeks. "Our pitching staff has been tremendous and timely offensive play has been the difference in winning ballgames. We are going to enjoy this and get back to work for KCU on Saturday," Weeks concluded.
Softball now comes back to the state of North Carolina to host the Kentucky Christian University Knights in Appalachian Athletic Conference play on Saturday. First pitch of game one in Black Mountain, N.C. is scheduled for 12 p.m.
