SOFTBALL
Sophomore Ashley Brown’s walk-off dinger in the bottom of the seventh lifted the HU softball team to a 6-5 win over Mount Vernon Nazarene University Friday afternoon. It was Brown’s first homer of the year, the fourth of her career, and couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
It was a hushed dugout for HU to start the seventh as they watched their two-run lead slip away for a 5-5 stalemate but emotions came full circle in their half of the frame. Despair turned to elation moments later when Brown, with one out, sent her first pitch deep for the memorable finish.
The loss is the Cougars’ first in league play as they drop to 16-5 overall, 8-1 in CL action. HU’s record now stands at 13-10 overall, 8-5 in conference play. The two teams played just one game as cold temperatures forced postponement of the nightcap with the make-up date to be determined.
Casey Lehman finished 3-for-4 at the plate and posted three RBI to pace Huntington offensively. She was a four-bagger away from hitting for the cycle as she collected an RBI-double in the first, a two-run single in the second and a triple in fourth.
Huntington scored the game’s first four runs. In addition to Lehman driving in three of those runs, Joelle Beals scored on a wild throw in the first for the early 4-0 advantage. MVNU outscored HU 3-1 in the middle innings with Marty Harris dropping an RBI-single into shallow right-center in the fifth to account for her team’s run.
Neither team scored in the sixth to make for the action-packed seventh with Brown headlining the frame. In addition to her blast, the New Castle native singled in the third to finish with a pair of hits. Kennedy Krull also logged two hits. As a team, Huntington posted ten hits to the Cougars’ eight.
Lairen Miller continued her tear in the circle by logging her eighth complete-game win. She gave up eight hits and five runs, only one of which was earned, while striking out five.
Next up for Gower and crew is a road trip to #3 Marian on Monday for a 3:00 p.m. matchup with the Knights.