OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Despite coming off of short rest, the Hood College softball team came away with two wins against Notre Dame of Maryland University, winning 7-5 in game one before pouring on the offense in a 20-hit 16-10 victory.
At the Plate
Taylor Lowe (Laurel, Del./Delmarva Christian) was a perfect 4-4 in game one, hitting two home runs and a double for a five-RBI game, also hitting a home run in the second game.
Sara Munson (Inwood, W.Va./Musselman) went 3-5 with a double in the first game.
Kara Heidlauf (Mount Joy, Pa./Donegal High School) batted 4-5 in game two, hitting a double and a home run to finish with four RBIs.
Sam Larkin (Pasadena, Md/Chesapeake High School) finished the nightcap batting 3-4 with a walk, hitting a double and driving in two runs.
In the Circle
Lowe allowed just two earned runs while striking out nine batters in the game one win.
Sydney Weaver (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) picked up her first win of the season, finishing game two with a single earned run and seven strikeouts.
Hood 7, NDMU 5
Although neither team scored in the first two innings, the Blazers threatened in the top of both, with a runner on second barely getting thrown out at home in the second.
Lowe decided enough was enough in the third, sending a ball over the left-center wall to make it a 1-0 game. She did not stop there though, striking out two in the bottom of the inning for six in just three innings of play.
Hood kept the offense coming in the fourth, sending three runners home to stretch its lead to 4-0.
After the Blazers tacked on two more runs in the top of the sixth with a two-run home run from Lowe, the Gators responded in a big way, taking advantage of misplays in the field to score five runs and make it a tight 6-5 game.
Thankfully, Hood was able to give itself a little breathing room with one more run in the top of the seventh inning when
Lizzie McConnell (Stevensville, Md./Kent Island) hit a deep enough single to score the runner on second, and Lowe allowed just one baserunner in the bottom of the frame to secure the 7-5 win.
Hood 16, NDMU 10
Both teams decided this would be the game with all the offense, with Lowe blasting her third moonshot of the day in her first at-bat of the game to again kick off the scoring. NDMU did not waste time before scoring in this one though, scoring four in the bottom of the first to jump into the lead.
The Blazers got right back to work though, chipping away at the lead with a pair of runs in the second before tying the game 4-4 in the third.
Unfortunately for them, the tie would not last long, with the Gators going big and plating six runs in the bottom of the inning to put Hood on the ropes.
This time around, the Blazers did not take more than an inning to get the runs back, with
Bailey Pysher (Pottstown, Pa/Pottsgrove) hitting a bases-clearing double to cut the deficit to 10-7 before Heidlauf hit a towering three-run blast to suddenly tie the game once again.
From that point on it was all Hood, as it added two more runs in the fifth and made it a five-run game in the sixth. With runners on the corners and no outs in the seventh, Janke was able to force NDMU to take the force out at second while allowing the runner on third to score and make it a 16-10 affair, and despite the first two batters getting on for the Gators in the bottom of the seventh, the Blazers managed to get themselves a triple play to end the game and secure the sweep.
For the Opponent
Raegan Perkes went 3-4 with a double in game one.
Eleanor Flores batted 3-4 in game two, hitting a double and scoring twice.
Up Next
Hood returns home for a Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth doubleheader against Stevenson University Wednesday, March 25 at 2 and 4 p.m.
