SOFTBALL

Saturday’s split on their home turf against #17 Indiana Wesleyan clinched the No. 5 spot in the conference regular season standings for the Forester softball team. Huntington outlasted their guests 7-6 in the opener before dropping the nightcap 5-1.

Ehler and crew went 1-1 against the Wildcats, ranked 16th at the time, earlier this month to split the regular season series 2-2. Today’s twin bill wraps up the regular season and sets HU up well for the Crossroads League tournament at Spring Arbor slated for next week. Heading into game two, the Foresters had strung together seven straight wins.

Gena Moore’s walk-off double in the opener brought an end to a fast and furious seventh frame that saw the Wildcats plate the go ahead run in the top of the inning. Setting the stage for Moore’s heroics included Courtney Mason starting things off with a single to left and then advancing to second on a perfectly laid bunt by Khloee Gregory.

Bree Hines took a pitch in the arm to represent the winning run on first after which Carli Tharp bunted both runners into scoring position. Kasey Hickle drew a base on balls to load the bases and, as they say, the rest was history as Moore clocked one over the right fielder’s head to end things in walk-off fashion.

Mason was Huntington’s key cog offensively. In addition to setting her team up for success in the seventh, the senior first baseman also hammered out a pair of two-out RBI-base hits. The first was an RBI-double in the third while the second was a two-run single in the fifth. She finished with three hits and three RBI.

Moore finished with two hits and two RBI. Other Foresters to knock in a run included Nigella Reck and Jess Duvall, both working an RBI-fielder’s choice.

Emma Payton got the start for HU, tossing the first 3.2 innings before being replaced by Natalie Haselby who worked 2.1 frames. With two on, Kinzie Mollenkopf took over in the circle in the top of the seventh, giving up a hit before working three outs to collect the big win.

Game two came and went pretty quietly. After matching IWU’s run in the first on an error by the third baseman, the Foresters were sparce at the plate. HU managed just five hits with Hickle picking up two.

The 1-1 tie held through the first three frames before the guests unleashed for two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. After finishing the first game, Mollenkopf was back on the bump in the nightcap. She tossed the first 4.2 innings and gave up eight hits, five runs and three walks while striking out one to be charged with the loss.

Karlee Franklin, after a long hiatus, looked good in her comeback debut. The junior hurler threw the final 2.1 frames, surrendering just two hits while working four strikeouts.

Over the final two weeks of regular season play, HU (25-25, 17-19) has enjoyed an 11-3 record. The CL tourney starts Tuesday with a play-in game featuring #5 Huntington against #8 Goshen at 2:00 p.m.