MONT ALTO, Pa. – The Hood College softball team traveled up to play Penn State Mont Alto in its first games back from spring break, winning game one 9-4 but drawing game two 5-5 after the game was called for a lack of light in extras.
At the Plate
Rory Achey (Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land) finished her day 4-6 with a walk and two RBIs, including a perfect 2-2 game one and a double in game two.
Taylor Lowe (Laurel, Del./Delmarva Christian) batted 5-8 across both games, hitting a double and a triple while batting in three runs in the first game.
Kara Heidlauf (Mount Joy, Pa./Donegal High School) and
Lizzie McConnell (Stevensville, Md./Kent Island) both went 2-4 in game one.
In the Circle
Lowe pitched a full seven to earn the win in game one, striking out eight batters.
Sydney Weaver (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) threw all eight innings of game two, allowing just three earned runs.
Hood 9, Mont Alto 4
The Nittany Lions were in complete control to start the game, almost going through the entire order in the first inning, but after Lowe allowed the first two runs of the game and had the bases loaded after a 10-pitch battle ended with the batter getting hit, was able to get the next batter to line out to McConnell in left field.
Mont Alto managed to tack on another run in the second inning and looked to continue holding down Hood's offense after allowing just three hits through the first three innings.
Although the Blazers managed to get runners on the corners with just one out in the top of the fourth, the next two batters went down in order as the score remained 3-0 in favor of the Nittany Lions.
After being shut down for most of the game, Hood's bats suddenly caught fire in the top of the fifth, with a combination of walks and doubles tying the game 3-3 before the Blazers had gotten out once. A Heidlauf base hit loaded the bases with just one out, and after a missed ground ball from the third baseman allowed two runs to score, an errant throw from center field sent the ball into the dugout to clear the bases and put Weaver on third. A hard grounder from
Sara Munson (Inwood, W.Va./Musselman) allowed Weaver to score in
exchange for an out, but by the time the teams went to the bottom of the inning Hood had leapfrogged Mont Alto with a 7-3 lead.
A pair of doubles for the Nittany Lions got one back for them to make it a three-run game, but two more runs from the Blazers in the top of the sixth put the game out of reach and secure back-to-back wins for Hood with a 9-4 victory.
Hood 5, Mont Alto 5 (8 inn.)
The day's second game got off to a slower start for both teams, but again Mont Alto was able to get out to an early lead after runs in the second and third innings put it ahead 2-0.
Both the fourth and fifth innings were fairly quiet offensively, but the Blazers again managed to put together some late offense, with a leadoff single from McConnell turning into an RBI-double for Achey. A hard-hit ball to third gave Lowe an infield single
right after, and a rip from Heidlauf down the left field line scored them both and put Hood ahead 3-2.
An RBI-single from Achey made it a 4-2 game in the top of the seventh, but the Nittany Lions answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning to tie things up and send it to extras.
Both teams were able to score the ghost runner placed on second, but neither could generate enough offense to push any more across. As the light continued to fade from the field, both the coaches and the umpires agreed to call the game after the eighth inning and sent the teams home with a 5-5 tie.
For the Opponent
Terri Williams batted 5-7 with a walk over the course of the day, tying game two with a home run.
Sarah Devilbliss went 2-3 with a walk in game one, hitting a double.
Kira Weikert took the game one loss, allowing eight hits in 4.2 innings.
Up Next
The Blazers have their first conference games of the season against No. 25 Eastern University at home Saturday, March 21 at 1 and 3 p.m.
