COLUMBUS, Miss. – The W softball climbed back to .500 on the young season with a pair of wins on Day 1 of its The W Invitational round-robin tournament. The Owls (2-2) opened the day with a 3-2 win over Covenant College (Ga.), followed by an 8-6 victory over Sewanee (Sewanee topped CC, 8-7, in the night cap).
The same teams will close out the tourney on Saturday. A Sewanee-Covenant rematch starts the day (11 a.m.), with MUW facing Covenant (1 p.m.) and Sewanee (3 p.m.) a second time to cap the event.
Leadoff batter
Gillion Eaves opened game one with a single and promptly ended up on third base, after two steals.
Addison Owen's RBI single easily plated Eaves, and she went to third herself after a misplay in right, 1-0. As it turned out, the error was inconsequential, because designated player
Brooklyn Rhodes spanked an RBI double to left to make it 2-0.
The Scots (0-1) got a run back off of MUW starter
Phallyn Clark in the top of the fourth.
With one down in the bottom of the fifth, The W manufactured what would turn out to be the game-winning run. A beautiful bunt single by Eaves was followed by an infield single from
Madison York. Owen then came up and punched the ball through the left side of the infield to score Eaves, 3-1.
In the visitor half of the sixth, things got a bit rocky for Clark, as she faced four batters and gave up a run on a wild pitch that narrowed the gap to 3-2. Freshman
Trinity Garvin was then summoned from the bullpen and got th final two outs of the sixth, as well as a scoreless seventh to earn her first collegiate save.
Clark's final line was 5.1 inn9ngs pitched, six hits, two earned runs, two strikeouts and two walks. Garvin went 1.2 innings and permitted just one hit.
The top four batters of The W order – Eaves (2-3), York (1-3), Owen (2-3), and Rhodes (2-3) – did the lion's share of the damage, offensively. The quartet was responsible for even of the Owls' nine hits, scored all three runs and drove in all three, as well.
In game two, the Owls got all of their runs with three in the fourth and five in the fifth, to overcome a 4-3 deficit. In the fourth, catcher
Sasha King (2-3) slapped an RBI single and
Kaylee Crawford belted a two-run double.
The MUW fifth featured a bunt single by Eaves (2-4) that scored
Kaitlyn Bearley (1-3) from third, an RBI triple from Owen (2-4), and a two-run triple from designated player
Brianna Byrd (1-3). King's second run-scoring single of the game made it 8-4.
Sewanee added a pair of runs in the sixth off of MUW reliever
Rachel Etheridge. Etheridge tossed 2.0 innings and had one strikeout.
Owls' starter Rhodes (1-1) threw 5.0 frames, giving up four earned runs on five hits. She struck out six and walked two.
