SOFTBALL

The Huntington softball team dropped a pair of one-run contests, 17-16, 2-1, to the Bethel Pilots (11-23, 6-16) Friday afternoon to move to 11-21 overall, 7-15 in league play.

With wind gusts up to 40 mph, game one was a hitter’s delight. Hits came easily as the two squads combined for 31 which included six dingers – all of which cleared the left side of the field thanks to the winds from the southwest.

For both teams, they logged season-high runs with Bethel getting the final say. After erupting for eight runs in the third, the Pilots took a commanding 9-1 lead. The Foresters got three back in their half of the frame but the visitors went right back at it in the fourth to pile on six more runs for a seemingly insurmountable 15-4 advantage.

But BC’s nine-run lead didn’t stick long as HU started to tee off – posting back-to-back six-run innings to not only catch up but climbed on top 16-15 with two innings to go. While the comeback was valiant, the Pilots didn’t concede compliments of Quinn Slattman who sailed the last one out of the yard for a two-run blast to reclaim the lead and hush the Forester dugout.

It was all she wrote as Huntington put the tying run aboard in each of their final two at bats but couldn’t get beyond first base to deny a happy ending for Gower and crew.

Both teams sifted through three pitchers with MacKyndsea Burke spending the latter part of the game in the circle to eventually be tagged with the loss having given up four hits and two runs in 3.2 innings of work.

Nine of Bethel’s 17 runs came by way of the long ball highlighted by a grand slam by Maribelle Castro in the fourth and obviously the game-winning two-run homer by Slattman in the seventh.

Huntington also finished with three four-baggers but unfortunately didn’t have as many runners on board as only four of their points on the scoreboard were the result of hefty swings. Paige Eichelberger was the first Forester to send one out of the park, a two-run shot in the third.

The next frame saw Karley Blankenship tag the scoreboard with her long ball while Denaia Rice claimed her second homer of the year in the fifth. The rookie finished with two hits.

While Sophia Beachy posted just one hit, she collected four RBI and scored twice. Joelle Beals finished with two hits and just as many RBI. Kennedy Krull also picked up two hits and drove in a run.

For as action-packed as the opener was, the nightcap was slow-moving in comparison. The Pilots found home right away and then scored again in the fourth by taking advantage of a pair of HU botched plays.

Huntington struggled at the plate by scattering just two base pokes through the first six frames before finally rallying in the seventh. After Jada Crofoot led off with a single, Kiera Stacy knocked in Crofoot’s courtesy runner, Amber Klopfenstein, to pull the hosts within a run. With two outs, Beals kept things going with HU’s third hit of the inning but Brooke Stoltz slammed the door shut on the comeback by working her tenth strikeout of the contest to pick up the complete-game win.

For Stoltz, it was her second win of the day as she tossed the final 2.2 frames of the opener to earn that win too.

Burke was charged with the loss in the nightcap. She went the distance to give up six hits and two hits, only one of which was earned, while striking out five.

HU is back in action tomorrow to host #RV Taylor at 1:00 p.m. for a doubleheader.