SOFTBALL

The Forester softball team made the short trip to Fort Wayne Tuesday afternoon to take on Indiana Tech in a neighborly non-conference battle that saw HU outlast their hosts, 15-13, in the opener before the Warriors (5-5) struck back with a 12-4 win in game two of the doubleheader.

Game one was a slugfest with the Foresters hammering out a season-high 18 hits to Tech’s 12. Kaela Robey got her team off to a fast start with a two-run bomb in the top of the first, her first dinger of the year and third of her career. The hosts responded with five runs in their half of the inning for what ended up their only lead of the afternoon.

Runs came easily for Huntington after that with the only exception in the second which proved their only at bat where they didn’t find home at least one. Gower and crew ballooned the lead to 15-7 heading into Tech’s final chance at the plate but there was no cruising to the win.

Amidst drawing a walk, the Warriors cranked out two doubles and two triples to close to within 15-12 with no outs. It was MacKyndsea Burke to the rescue. The junior hurler inherited a runner on third. After surrendering a sac fly, she calmly worked the final two outs to preserve the win and pick up the save.

Meghan Fretz (3-1) spent the first six frames on the mound for the win, allowing 12 hits, 13 runs, 11 of which were earned, and five walks while striking out four.

Offensively, Jada Crofoot finished with three hits, including a two-run double and an RBI-single. Robey also claimed three base pokes which included her two-run dinger. Additionally, Abigail Reed was a force to be reckoned with, pounding out a pair of RBI-singles and collecting a third RBI on a groundout. Darby Minor, Kiera Stacy and Hannah Shoupe also logged multiple hits for the Foresters with Minor adding two RBI and Stacy posting one.

The bats for HU cooled off considerably in the nightcap while Tech continued their scoring tear. This time around it was the Warriors who scored in all but one frame to post the lopsided win.  In addition to giving up 14 hits, HU also committed an uncharacteristic four errors that resulted in four unearned runs.

Robey knocked in Huntington’s first run with a single to left center in the third. It pulled her team within two at 3-1. The sophomore outfielder is off to a hot start this season. She entered the day ranked 11th nationally in batting average (.600) and 17th in doubles per game (.625).

Tech got that run back in their half of the frame and then added three more to their total before Reed cranked one out of the park in the fifth with two on, compliments of a pair of walks, to keep things interesting at 7-4. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived threat as the hosts scored once in their at-bat and then added four more in the sixth to safely distance themselves from Gower’s squad and cut the game short by an inning.

The Foresters finished with four hits, drew five walks and left five runners stranded.

Burke was charged with the loss. She worked the first three innings and gave up eight hits, four runs and one walk while striking out one.

HU moves to 7-3 on the year. They hit the road this weekend to play at Asbury on Friday and at IU Southeast on Saturday.