COLUMBUS, Miss. – The W softball took on perennial NCAA III power Illinois Wesleyan University in Sunday Matinee, earning a split for the afternoon. The Owls (5-8) won the first game, 5-3, before dropping the second, 4-0, at Don Usher Field.
In game one, MUW led 5-0 after three innings and made it stand up in snapping its five-game losing skein. The W opened the scoring, thanks to an RBI single from leadoff batter
Gillion Eaves, that plated Owls' pitcher
Trinity Garvin, who opened the inning with a single.
MUW catcher
MC Brown then smacked a two-out double, with Eaves putting on the brakes at third.
Madison York then hit a bouncer to third base, but the toss across to first sailed down the right-field line, allowing Eaves and Brown to come home and make it 3-0 on the error.
The Owls got busy in the third frame, as well. With two out, and runners on second and third, freshman
Avery Johnston (Caledonia, Miss./CCA) smacked a 1-2 pitch to right, for a two-RBI single that made the score 5-0 in favor of the Owls.
Meanwhile, MUW's Garvin (1-1) cruised through six innings, allowing just single runs in the fourth and fifth, followed by a scoreless sixth. But, in the seventh, Garvin was tagged for three-consecutive singles that loaded the bases with no outs.
Owls' Head Coach
Rebecca Oldham then summoned freshman reliever
Rachel Etheridge. On Ethridge's first pitch, the Titans' Kelsey Bartels lifted a sacrifice fly to left that made it 5-3. But on the relay from
Kaitlyn Bearley from the outfield, MUW first-baseman
Kaylee Crawford alertly saw the runner on second trying to advance, cut the throw, and fired to
Sasha King at third, who applied the tag for a double play.
Etheridge then induced a grounder to short that ended the game and earned her second save of the year.
Addison Owen was 3-for-3 from the plate, collecting the only multi-hit game of the Owls' eight total knocks. Brown was 1-for-1, with the double, was hit by a pitch twice and scored tw9ce.
In game two, MUW could not solve IWU pitcher Gianna Certa. Certa allowed The W just four singles in the game and had six strikeouts in the shutout. All four of MUW's hits came from its top half of the lineup, where Eaves, York, Owen, and Crawford each went 1-for-3 in the Nos. 1-4 slots, respectively.
Rhodes (1-2) took the loss from the circle. Rhodes went 1.2 inning, allowed one run, struck out three and walked one.
