SOFTBALL

The Huntington softball team enjoyed its second win in extra innings Friday afternoon by outlasting Spring Arbor University, 5-4, in a ten-inning contest after which the Cougars slipped past the Foresters in the nightcap 1-0.

The opener saw Lairen Miller go the distance in the circle to earn the W by allowing just 11 hits, four runs, three earned, and one walk while striking out three in ten innings of work.

It was a cat and mouse chase. Both teams managed one run each through the first seven frames. HU struck first in the bottom of the fourth when Casey Lehman doubled in Sophia Beachy who singled to left just prior. SAU matched that courtesy of Sydney Taylor’s RBI-double in the sixth for the 1-1 stalemate.

It was a tie that stood through the seventh to force extra innings. SAU then took the lead in the eighth but the Foresters countered by way of Lehman again. The sophomore catcher found a gap in right field in the fourth so this time she blasted a shot to the other side of the field for another run-scoring double to force the game’s second tie.

Neither team found home in the ninth which put into place the international tie breaker rule in the tenth which served its purpose of accelerating opportunities to score. The Cougars took advantage of an HU error and pounded out a pair of hits for two runs and a 4-2 advantage.

The pressure didn’t faze the Foresters but it did get to Spring Arbor. Karley Blankenship started on second and wasted little time plating her team’s third run of the game, advancing to third on Kennedy Krull’s double to center and scampering home on SAU’s first of three errors in the frame.

Rozlynn Everhart followed up with a base poke to left-center allowing Krull to make her way to third. Back-to-back bobbles allowed Krull to sneak home, Everhart to find her way to third and Sophia Beachy to reach base. It brought Lehman to the plate and as she had done all game, she delivered once again. She roped a shot to right-center for a walk-off single.

Lehman finished with three hits and just as many RBI. Krull added two hits as the duo combined for five of the team’s ten hits.

Game two proved much less exciting as the Cougars plated the only run of the contest in the sixth as neither team mustered much offense. Spring Arbor finished with four hits and tapped into two of them in the sixth in addition to executing a sacrifice bunt and stolen base to set up Jordan Burman’s RBI-double.

While HU managed just three hits in the game, they placed six runners in scoring position but could never cross home plate. It marks the first time this season the Foresters have been shutout.

Mallory West was tagged with the loss. She gave up four hits, one run and one walk while striking out four.

Huntington (9-7, 6-2) road trips to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College on Monday for a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader with the Pomeroys.