SOFTBALL

Up against Mount Vernon (16-8, 14-8) for the first time this season, the HU softball team split with their guests Monday afternoon to move to 22-20 overall, 11-13 in league play. The Foresters took control of game one for a  10-4 win after which the nightcap came down to the wire with the Cougars notching the 4-3 victory.

Gower’s crew scored early in the opener to establish a lead they never relented. Sophia Beachy got her team on the board in the bottom of the first by walking in a run. Meghan Fretz’s sac fly later in the frame made it a 2-0 contest.

Jada Crofoot added to Huntington’s total in the second with a base poke into center that knocked in Kennedy Krull and Hannah Shoupe who each singled to get things started. MVNU got three back over the next two innings to pull within one at 4-3 but the Foresters answered convincingly in their half of the fourth to separate themselves from their visitors.

The frame saw HU draw two walks and then pound out four hits which included three that drove in runs. After Kaela Robey scored on a passed ball, Kiera Stacy logged an RBI-single and then came around to score on Krull’s double. Shoupe capped off the big inning with a shot into shallow center that plated a pair of runs.

Both teams scored in the fifth with Beachy picking up a second RBI on a two-bagger to round out Huntington’s scoring. Beachy and Crofoot finished with three hits and two RBI apiece. Krull collected three base pokes and an RBI while Shoupe added two hits which included a two-run single.

Fretz earned the win in the circle. In five innings of work, she gave up nine hits and four runs.

Facing a 2-0 deficit after the first three frames of the nightcap, Huntington spent the next two frames taking over the lead. Shoupe’s sacrifice fly in the fourth cut the Cougars’ lead in half before RBI-ground outs by Paige Eichelberger and Crofoot in the fifth flipped the advantage in favor of HU 3-2.

Mount Vernon went right back to work in the sixth to tie things up to set up an eventful seventh. The Cougars opened the frame with a double and then things fell into place for them with a little help from HU. A dropped third strike that led to an error put runners on the corners to set up a well-executed double steal that led to what proved the game-winner.

The Foresters willed their way on base when it was their turn with the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first but unfortunately left both runners stranded to snuff out the potential come-from-behind win.

HU finished with just two hits to MVNU’s 12. Adelyn Harsh, who tossed the last five frames, took the loss for Gower’s crew by giving up nine hits, three runs and a walk while striking out two.

Next up for Huntington is a home doubleheader with Bethel on Thursday at 3:00 p.m.