SOFTBALL

The Huntington softball team extended their win streak to four in the Sunshine State with a pair of wins on their third and final day at the Space Coast Games in Melbourne, Fla. Against Oakland City Wednesday morning, the Foresters cruised to a 10-1 win before skunking Keiser 11-0 in five a few hours later.

Freshman Kinzie Mollenkopf tossed a one-run complete-game dandy against the Mighty Oaks. The rookie hurler surrendered just six hits, one run and three walks while striking out eight of the 30 batters she faced.

After giving up two hits and a run in the first, Mollenkopf settled in to hold Oakland City scoreless the rest of the way and limiting them to just four hits.

Her supporting cast was also on point, playing error-free defense and  pounding out 15 hits to score double-digit runs for the second time this spring.

Three of HU’s first five runs were the result of sacrifice bunts by Courtney Mason and Jo Walker for a 5-1 lead by the fifth. After that Gena Moore singled in two runs in the sixth after which Kasey Hickle did the same in the seventh. Kylie Fisher wrapped up the scoring with an RBI infield single later in the frame to make for the 10-1 final.

Moore finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI. Hickle struck for two hits and two RBI. Fisher, Carli Tharp and Walker each collected a pair of hits and an RBI while Jess Duvall logged the game’s only triple on the way to posting two hits.

The afternoon saw freshman Emma Payton in her first start as a Forester turn in a gem of a performance against Keiser to claim the two-hit shutout. She faced just 18 batters, striking out three while issuing two free passes. It was three up, three down for three of the five innings.

Three of Huntington’s nine hits were for extra bases with the Duvall twins each logging RBI-doubles. Mollenkopf, Tharp and Bree Hines hammered out run-scoring singles. Khloee Gregory worked a base on balls to drive in another run while HU took advantage of two Keiser fielding errors to plate two more runs.

When all was said and done, Ehler’s crew touched home three times in the third and then erupted for eight runs in the fifth to call it quits two frames early. Moore continued her tear at the plate by adding two more hits to her day’s total. Jess Duvall finished 2-for-3, collecting two RBI along the way.

HU (4-4) returns to Indiana tomorrow and has a day’s break before heading to IU Southeast on Saturday for a doubleheader with the Grenadiers to close out spring break.