BEREA, Ky. – The Earlham College softball team split a weekday doubleheader with Berea College in HCAC competition on Wednesday.
GAME ONE: EARLHAM 5 BEREA 3 (8 Innings)
Shelby Messer earned her seventh win of the season with an eight-inning complete game. Messer scored seven strikeouts while allowing just three earned runs.
Mack Harvey earned a free base with one out in the top of the first inning, and came around to score on a triple to left field by
Emmerie Stump for a 1-0 Quaker lead.
The Mountaineers tied the game in the bottom of the second after a leadoff single came around to score with a pair of sacrifice bunts.
With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the fifth inning,
Alana Smith brought in a run after being hit by a pitch.
Shelby Hill then hit a single to left field for another Quaker run to lead 3-1.
Berea tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-out double that brought home two runs in deep center field.
Tied 3-3 in the eighth inning,
Drew Tubesing was the free runner on second base for the Quakers.
Malaya Tanglao laid down a sacrifice bunt, but reached base after an errant throw by the Mountaineer third baseman. Tanglao then scored as an insurance run on a sacrifice fly by
Ariel Clarkston.
Berea had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Messer ended the game on a pair of strikeouts to strand the runners.
GAME TWO: EARLHAM 4 BEREA 7
Kamdyn DePew threw 2.2 innings to open the game with one strikeout and four earned runs.
Jade Green tossed the final 2.2 frames with three strikeouts, and no runs on three hits.
Macie Ferguson went 3-4 with a run scored and a steal.
Bo Shelton tallied two hits with a run scored and an RBI.
Shelton reached with a two-out single in the top of the first inning, and scored on a double to left field by Hill.
Ashley Lewis then hit her first career home run down the left field line to put the Quakers up 3-0 in the first frame.
Berea scored three runs on four hits, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game. The Mountaineers then hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning with one out.
Ferguson hit a one-out single in the top of the fourth inning to set up Shelton for an RBI-double to center field.
The Quakers continue HCAC action on Saturday at Franklin College. First pitch in the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 pm.
