RICHMOND, Ind. – The Earlham College softball team split a weekend doubleheader with Manchester University in a tight HCAC race.
GAME ONE: EARLHAM 2 MANCHESTER 7
Keely Hubbard hit her first career home run in game one off the top of the Maroon Monster in left field for two RBI.
Ashley Lewis went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Tatum Rickert threw a complete game in the circle with four earned runs and eight strikeouts on 138 pitches.
Manchester scored two runs in both the first and second innings. Trailing 4-0, Hubbard hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third inning.
The Spartans added three runs in the seventh inning with two hits and an error in the frame.
GAME TWO: EARLHAM 3 MANCHESTER 2 (9 Innings)
The Quakers took the Spartans to a nine-inning win for game two after a walk-off run by
Emmerie Stump on a ball put in play by Hubbard.
Morgan Cooksey threw a complete game with one earned run on six hits and nine strikeouts. The freshman also had two hits.
Bo Shelton and
Faith Butler also had multi-hit games.
After three scoreless innings, Manchester scored on a double in the top of the fourth.
Earlham began the ninth frame with a single by Butler, and a sac bunt to move her to second base.
Kymara Kennedy made a speedy move on the basepath to reach third on a foul out as a pinch runner. Down to their last out, the Quakers tied the game on a hit by
Malaya Tanglao as a pinch hitter.
With the tiebreaker runner on second in the top of the eighth inning, Manchester scored on an infield single.
Bella Schatko advanced the tiebreaker runner as the leadoff batter in the bottom of the eighth, and Hubbard scored on a throwing error by the Spartan first baseman. Earlham had two runners on with one out, but hit into a double play.
Manchester used its leadoff batter to hit a sacrifice bunt in the top of the ninth inning, but a foul out deep down the left field line held the runner at third. WIth two outs, Cooksey induced a pop out to end the frame.
Butler hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth, and put Stump on third base. The Spartans got a groundout for the first out, but Butler was able to reach second base on the play. Lewis was pitched around to load the bases with one out. Manchester got a strikeout, and EC went back to the top of the lineup with two outs and the bases loaded.
Hubbard hit a short fly ball to right field, but the Spartan fielder lost the ball in the sun, and it fell to the ground allowing Stump home to score.
The Quakers are now 6-8 in conference play, and sit in sole possession of seventh place in the standings, but just one game out of fourth place. The top six teams will qualify for the conference tournament.
Earlham will host Mount St. Joseph University(9-5) on Thursday for a doubleheader starting at 3 pm in Ellie Bewley Stadium. The Quakers will then close out the season at Anderson University (2-10) on Saturday.
