SOFTBALL

A pair of tight battles, one ending in heartbreak, closed the regular season for the Forester softball team Saturday afternoon at Sue Bowman Field.

After splitting with #RV Indiana Wesleyan in first round of CL action, Huntington dropped both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader, 3-2 and 7-5, to fall 3-1 in the season series. The Foresters wrap up the regular season at 26-22 overall and 18-18 in Crossroads League play.

Game 1 – Indiana Wesleyan 3, Huntington 2
The opener was a tough one to swallow.

Huntington turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the third without recording a hit, capitalizing on patience and grit. With the bases loaded, Maddie Duvall battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk for the equalizer before Kailee Bishop was hit by a pitch to give HU the advantage.

From there, Kinzie Mollenkopf was in control. After surrendering a run in the first, the junior ace allowed just one hit over the next five innings, keeping the Wildcats off balance and protecting the slim lead.

But the seventh proved costly. IWU opened the frame with a single and eventually strung together two more hits, including a double to the wall in left, to walk it off and hand the Foresters a 3-2 loss.

Huntington managed just four hits in the contest, with Makinzie Kline accounting for half of them, going 2-for-4 with a double. Mollenkopf finished with five strikeouts, allowing three runs on six hits and four walks.

Game 2 – Indiana Wesleyan 7, Huntington 5
The Foresters came out swinging in game two.

Huntington jumped in front early with a 2-0 lead in the first as Maddie Goheen delivered a two-run single, part of a nine-hit effort for HU. But the momentum quickly shifted as the Wildcats erupted for five runs in the second to take control.

The Foresters chipped away. An RBI single from Makinzie Kline in the fourth made it 5-3 before IWU added two more in the fifth compliments of a two-run homer. Huntington refused to go quietly, answering in the sixth when Kasey Hickle lined a two-run single up the middle to pull within two.

That’s as close as it would get. Coach Tim Averill’s squad finished with nine hits, including multi-hit efforts from Kline (2-for-4) and Josslynn Harbert (2-for-3), while Goheen and Hickle combined for four RBI. In the circle, Natalie Haselby took the loss, allowing seven runs over 4.1 innings.

With the regular season complete, Huntington now turns its attention to the Crossroads League Tournament set to begin Tuesday with a play-in game. The Foresters’ seed will be determined following Monday’s MVNU/Grace matchup, but regardless of seeding, HU will face Mount Vernon Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. at Saint Francis in an elimination game.