SOFTBALL

The Forester softball team ran away with 7-2 win over Grace College Tuesday afternoon before the Lancers sought revenge with a 9-5 decision in the nightcap to split the twin bill. With four regular season games remaining, HU moves to 21-19 overall, 16-14 in league play. Gower’s crew is currently tied for fourth with Mount Vernon in the conference standings.

HU bolted out to an early 5-0 lead after two and never looked back in game one. Their first four runs came in the first, the first three compliments of a Lancer throwing error with bases loaded after which Mallory West knocked in a run with a base poke into shallow left-center.

Paige Eichelberger collected an RBI in the second on a groundout and the final two runs came in the sixth on Marty Harris’ RBI-double and Casey Lehman’s run-scoring single. The Lancers posted a run in the fourth and seventh but didn’t pose much of a threat to Huntington’s lead as the damage had already been done.

Lairen Miller claimed the complete-game win. She gave up six hits and two runs, one earned, while striking out two.

The Foresters logged ten hits with four Foresters in Joelle Beals, Lehman, Eichelberger and West each posting a pair.

The nightcap had a similar feel but unfortunately favored the visitors instead. Grace jumped out to a 6-1 lead and remained in control throughout. Things looked promising for the Foresters as they found home three times in the fourth to pull within two at 6-4 but the Lancers responded by stacking two more runs onto their lead in the fifth on the way to cruising to the 9-5 win.

While both teams hit the ball well, with GC owning a slight 11-10 advantage, the Lancers took advantage of four Forester errors to plate two unearned runs in addition to making several great plays defensively to establish early momentum that carried throughout.

Karley Blankenship paced the Foresters with two RBI-singles. Sophia Beachy collected two hits including a run-scoring double while Lehman and Eichelberger registered three and two hits respectively.

Mallory West was charged with the loss for HU. The freshman hurler spent the first two frames and the start of third in the circle and gave up four hits, six runs, five earned, and a walk before being relieved by Miller.

The Foresters travel to Saint Francis on Friday for a doubleheader with the Cougars beginning at 3PM.