SOFTBALL

Not only was it a long road trip for the Huntington softball team, it was also a long day of softball for the Foresters having been swept by Spring Arbor, 4-1, 15-7, Monday afternoon at Cougar Field.

The losses drop HU to 13-15 overall, 5-9 in CL action. Huntington is one of four league teams with five CL wins. The Cougars currently boast an 18-11 record. They are sitting third in the league standings with a Crossroads League record of 10-6.

SAU looked to their ace Emmalee Hamp in the opener to stifle HU at the plate by allowing only one run on six hits. The Foresters’ lone run came in their first at bat on a Courtney Mason RBI-single up the middle.

Meanwhile, the red-hot Cougars, who most recently blanked #17 IWU 11-0, piled up nine runs on ten hits to call it quits after six. Maddie Turner took the loss for HU in the circle. The junior hurler tossed the first two frames and gave up seven hits, six runs and three walks.

Huntington looked like a new team to start the nightcap. Mason got her team going with an RBI-groundout in the first to repeat a 1-0 start. The third frame saw Ehler’s crew hammer out five hits, one shy of their entire number of hits in game one, to score four runs on a pair of two-run base hits by Maddie Duvall and Khloee Gregory.

Spring Arbor had only found home once up to that point for a 5-1 difference but then the wheels came off for the guests. While it was a relatively slow start for SAU, they poured it on starting in the fourth. Huntington tried three different pitchers in the pivotal frame but not before the Cougars had scored eight runs for a 9-5 turnaround.

Kasey Hickle’s shot up the middle in the sixth got two runs back for HU, but the hosts fired back in their half of the frame. SAU rounded the bases six times to separate themselves by the necessary eight runs to call the game an inning early again thanks to the mercy rule.

The Foresters logged 12 hits with Hickle, Maddie Duvall and Gregory each posting two hits and two RBI while Jess Duvall also collected a pair of base pokes.

When all was said and done, HU’s main nemesis was Hamp. After punishing HU from the mound in the first game, she then made her presence known at the plate in the nightcap where she went 2-for-3 which included a two-run dinger.

Starting pitcher Kinzie Mollenkopf was charged with the loss for Huntington having thrown 3.1 innings during which she gave up five hits, seven runs, only four of which were earned, and two walks while striking out one.

The Foresters return to their home turf on Friday to host Goshen at 3:00 p.m.