CLEVELAND, Ga.— Following a 2-week break from competition, the Montreat softball team returned to action Saturday afternoon with its initial Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) doubleheader of the season. Taking on the Truett McConnell University Bears, a team receiving votes in the NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll, the Cavaliers lost a pair of competitive 2-run battles, 6-4 and 5-3, and fell to 9-3 (0-2 AAC) as a result.
Truett McConnell (6-7, 2-0 AAC) opened the scoring in game one thanks to two RBI singles in the bottom half of the first frame. The hosts' lead didn't last long, however, as the visitors stormed back with a 4-spot during the ensuing half-inning.
Despite registering just one hit, Montreat seized a 4-2 lead in the second.
Alanna Hernandez and
Dayton Kell scored on a pair of wild pitches, while
Jasmine Rachal's sacrifice fly and a TMU throwing error plated both
Leyna Gould and
Hollie Cunningham.
Victoria Alcantar and the Bears' starting pitcher settled in after some early trouble as each retired a stretch of seven straight opposing batters between the third and sixth innings. Each starter saw its consecutive outs streak end in the sixth but managed to bounce back and throw a scoreless frame, keeping the Cavs in front, 4-2, entering the seventh.
Montreat had its chances to blow the matchup open, but it stranded a pair of runners in scoring position during the top of the sixth, and it left the bases loaded in the seventh. Those zeroes in the run column allowed Truett McConnell to flip the script in the home half of the seventh. A 2-run triple to left leveled the score at 4-4, and a 2-run shot to right allowed the Bears to come from behind and walk off the Cavaliers, 6-4.
Alcantar (1-4) and Kell (1-3) accrued the squad's only hits in the opener. Montreat drew nine walks in the defeat, with
Makayla Reid, Gould and Cunningham each tallying two. Rachal proved responsible for the Cavs' lone RBI, and Alcantar threw 6 2/3 innings in the circle with three strikeouts.
The visitors struck first in the latter half of Saturday's doubleheader when
Amayia Hernandez and Rachal notched back-to-back hits. Rachal's second RBI of the afternoon drove home Hernandez, who subsequently gave the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead through one.
TMU evened the score in the bottom of the second on a bases-loaded single to left, but the Cavs turned a pair of inning-ending lineout double plays to eliminate rallies in the second and third, keeping the contest tied entering the fourth inning.
Montreat regained the lead when
Haley Fethke and Kell crushed doubles in the top of the fourth, but the Bears erased their deficit and moved in front by three (5-2) thanks to an unearned run during the following half-inning and a trio of unearned runs in the fifth.
Kell pulled the Cavaliers a run closer with her bases-loaded single in the top of the sixth, but the visitors left the bases juiced before going down in order in the seventh. As a result, Truett McConnell held on to take game two, 5-3.
Deanna Waddell started in the pitcher's circle, going four innings while allowing just one earned run.
Kendall Rubel tossed two frames in relief, surrendering an unearned run. Rachal, Fethke and Kell each went 2-for-3 at the plate as the trio combined for six of Montreat's seven hits. Kell (2 RBIs) drove in multiple runs, and Fethke scored twice.
"I'm really proud of our efforts today," said head coach Corbin Weeks. "We played two complete games and just came up short. We applied pressure on them all day and just couldn't get the offense going with runners on. I'm excited to get back to work this week before heading to Brenau."
The Montreat softball team remains on the road next Saturday for another AAC doubleheader, this time at Brenau University. Game one is slated to begin at 1 p.m. in Gainesville, Ga.
