Softball Splits With Anderson

MARS HILL, N.C. – The Mars Hill softball team split a two-game set with the visiting Anderson Trojans on Wednesday, March 30 at Ponder Field. Game one was a slugfest that saw the Lions prevail by a score of 6-5 in eight innings while the Trojans supplied all the offense in game two, dropping the Blue and Gold with a score of 11-2. Mars Hill now sits at 9-15 overall and 3-5 within the conference while Anderson's record goes to 24-10, 4-4.

Kayleigh Jonas had a terrific day at the plate, belting two homeruns and collecting four RBIs while Taylor Lail tallied a pair of hits, including a long ball and a run batted in. Ally Sherman chipped in three hits and two runs scored on the afternoon.

GAME ONE

The Lions struck early in the bottom of the first as a no-doubt homerun off the bat of Lail with two outs staked the home team to a 1-0 lead. Anderson would come right back in the top of the second with a pair long balls of its own, one with a runner on and the other a solo shot, to put the Trojans in front for the first time, 3-1.

The dingers continued in the bottom half of third, this time off the bat of Kayleigh Jonas. After a bunt single from Sherman and a beautifully executed sacrifice from Krista Romine, Jonas took the 2-2 pitch over the left center field wall to knot the game at 3-all.

AU threatened in the top of the fourth, putting runners on first and second with two outs, but Jamie Booze was able to get a swinging strikeout to end the threat and keep the game tied. However, the Lions could not do anything with the momentum, going three-up, three-down in the bottom of the fourth.

The Trojans pushed a run across in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly to left field to retake the lead 4-3. That lead proved to be unsafe as the Lions put up a two-spot in the bottom of the fifth to push ahead 5-4 heading into the late innings. Sherman led the inning off with a sneaky bloop double down the left field line and two batters later Jonas went yard for the second time in the game.

Anderson once again tied the game with a single run in the top of the sixth following a base knock from Michaela Smith. Mars Hill looked poised to steal the game in the bottom of the seventh, sticking runners on second and third with one out, but a fly ball to the outfield and a great throw home completed a huge double play to help Anderson escape and send the game into extras.

The Trojans could not capitalize on the international tie-breaker rule where each team starts the extra frames with the last batted out on second base. The Lions defense held stiff and did not allow the go-ahead run to cross the plate. MHU did not have that problem in the bottom of the eighth. Starting with Erin Vickery on second, a costly miscue from the Trojans' shortstop landed Vickery 60 feet away from the win.

Following a fly out Casey Stanek stepped into the batter's box and laced a single up the middle to give the Lions the walk-off win.

Shelby Culler picked up the win to improve to 5-2 on the season, pitching two innings of relief for the Lions.

GAME TWO

Anderson wasted no time scoring runs in game two, pushing across four runs on five hits in the top of the first inning, including back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Augie Pena and Rachel Barefield. The Blue and Gold were able to cut the lead in half with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first following a couple miscues from the defense of the Trojans.

The score was pushed out to 8-2 in the top of the third with AU plating four runs after a two out error by the Lions cleared what was bases loaded and a hustle play to beat out a groundball.

Mars Hill was presented an opportunity in the bottom of the fourth, putting runners on first and second with two outs, but a harmless grounder diminished the threat and sent the game to the latter innings.

The Trojans added a single run in the fifth on a solo homerun by Cailah Niles and two runs in the sixth with back-to-back jacks by Augie Pena Rachel Barefield to make the score 11-2 in favor of the guests. From that point it was all academic and the Lions dropped game two by that same score.

Sydney Elkin fell to 4-8 on the year as she was tagged with the loss, tossing 2/3 of an inning and allowing four runs on five hits.  

The Lions will continue their schedule on Saturday, April 2 as they travel to Hickory, N.C. to take on conference foe Lenoir-Rhyne. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.