SOFTBALL

After topping Bethel twice Monday afternoon, the Huntington softball team extended their win streak to six. The sweep saw HU enjoy a five-inning 12-4 win over the Pilots after which the Foresters blanked their guests 8-0 in six.

The Foresters made quick work of BU in the opener. While it didn’t start off like that, HU took advantage of a fielding error in the fourth to plate seven unearned runs on the way to run-ruling the Pilots in five.

Bethel tapped into four of their five hits in the second to race out to a 4-0 lead. Ehler and crew fired right back to one-up their visitors by piecing together five hits, two walks and a hit batter to round the bases five times to climb on top 5-4.

Four of Huntington’s five base pokes drove in runs with Carli Tharp doubling in a pair of runs. Bree Hines, Maddie Goheen and Courtney Mason each got in on the action after that with RBI-singles.

Things then went from bad to worse for the Pilots in the fourth. With a runner on third and two outs, a fumbled routine groundout started their downfall with the first of seven runs scoring on the error. Three hits on either side of a walk made for the rest of HU’s scoring frenzy.

Tharp pushed two runs across home plate with a double through the left side. Consecutive singles by Hines and Jess Devall brought in two more runs. A standup RBI-double down the left field line by Nigella Reck kept things rolling for the hosts after which Goheen clocked another two-bagger to the left side of the park to drive in the seventh and final run of the inning.

It was a 12-4 spread after HU’s slugfest. The top of the fifth was over in a flash as Natalie Haselby worked a 1-2-3 frame to make for an abbreviated contest.  Haselby scattered just two hits over the final 3.1 innings to earn the win.

Tharp posted three hits and four RBI. Hines and Goheen finished with two hits and two RBI a piece while Reck added a pair of base pokes which included a run-scoring double.

Huntington’s hot sticks continued in the nightcap to add another mercy-rule game to their resume. After racking up 13 hits in the opener, HU added 11 more to their day’s total in the second game.

Jo Walker was instant offense for Ehler and crew. With bases loaded in the first frame, she blistered a double to the warning track in left field to drive in the three ducks on her pond and then came around to score on Khloee Gregory’s double up the middle.

The next two runs came by way of Jess Duvall’s sacrifice fly and Reck’s RBI-double in the fourth. Huntington finished up the day in dominant fashion with three straight doubles which included another Reck run-scoring two-base hit followed by Goheen’s game-ending base smack.

Walker led HU at the plate with two hits and three RBI. Reck and Tharp collected two base pokes each with Reck driving in run with each of her hits.

Kinzie Mollenkopf has been dominate in the circle as of late with today no exception. In six innings of work, the freshman hurler gave up four hits and a walk while fanning four batters for the complete-game win. It’s her third shutout in four days. In 19 innings of work, she has surrendered a mere eight hits while issuing only five free passes.

HU (24-24, 16-18) wraps up the regular season on Saturday by hosting Indiana Wesleyan at 1:00 p.m.