CLERMONT, Fla. - The Hood College softball team scored seven runs in the ninth inning to pick up an 8-2 win over Minnesota Morris on the first game of the Blazers' spring break trip to Florida.
Inside the Circle
- Rebecca Gottleib turned in her second straight double-digit strikeout game with 10 in a complete game win. She scattered four hits and three walks; and did not allow an earned run.
At the Plate
- Cailyn Barthlow and Jocelyn Pfleiger hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth for Hood. They became the first Blazers to go back-to-back since Roo Saglimbeni and Sophia Leaman in April 2017.
- Pfleiger had three hits in the game, coming up a triple shy of the cycle. Barthlow and Gottleib added two hits apiece.
- Kiersten Tomshack, who tripled with the bases loaded in the ninth, drove in three, while Alyssa Walters and Barthlow each drove in two. Walters became the first Hood player with more than one sacrifice fly in the same game since Ashley Fourcade in 2014.
How it Happened
- Gottleib and Autumn Theis were locked in a pitcher's duel into extra innings.
- In the top of the ninth, Sarah McCue started the inning as the international tiebreaker on second. After she moved to third, Walters hit a fly ball to center field, deep enough to allow McCue to scamper home for a 2-1 lead. Mallorie Hetzel, Gottleib and Colleen Blasko followed with three straight singles to load the bases with one out. Theis got Brandi Davidson to hit into a fielder's choice, forcing the runner at home for the second out.
- Tomshack stepped in and ripped a bases-loaded triple to break the game open and gave Hood a 5-1 lead. Barthlow and Pfleiger went back-to-back to put the Blazers ahead by seven.
- The Cougars pushed a run home in the bottom of the ninth before Gottleib closed the door.
- Hood led early on a run in the third inning, when Barthlow scored on a sac fly by Walters.
- Gottleib held Minnesota Morris without a hit through 3.2 innings. Then, in the fifth, Olivia Diver walked and Lauren Parsons singled to put two runners on when an error by Hood allowed a run to score and tied the game.
- Gottleib cruised after that, allowing just one hit and a walk over the final four innings of work.
For the Opponent
- Marissa Allen doubled and walked for the Cougars, while Diver walked twice.
- Theis allowed just five hits in the first eight innings before the Blazers scored seven runs on six hits in the ninth. She took the loss after pitching 8.2 innings. Adrianna Johnson pitched the final third of an inning, retiring the only hitter she faced.
Notes
- Both of Hood's victories so far this season have come in nine innings. The Blazers, 2-4 this year, defeated Catholic on Mar. 5, 6-5.
- Minnesota Morris dropped to 1-4.
Up Next
Hood plays twice on Monday, Mar. 14. The Blazers face Springfield College at 10:15 a.m. and Augsburg University at 12:15.
