Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Bluefield College softball team puts up 21 runs on the day to split with Ohio Christian University. The Trailblazers took game one 9-7 in nine innings before the Rams won game two 14-13 in a battle of the bats.
In game one, OCU scored first in the top of the third, scoring one run. BC responded in the bottom half with one of their own.
Kiki Jones singled to left to leadoff the inning, moved to second on
Kaitlyn Pennington's sacrifice bunt and later scored on a misplayed ball off the bat of
Kristen Murphy. One inning later, the Rams tacked on another run to go up 2-1.
Morgan Stephens doubled to left field, advanced to third on Jones' sacrifice bunt, and scored on Pennington's single to shortstop. The Trailblazers tied the score at 2 in the top of the fifth after Carol Rice doubled and then scored on Rian Montavon's single to center. In the bottom of the sixth, Pennington picked up two RBIs when she tripled to right field, plating Jones and
Alexandra Bartley. In the top of the seventh, OCU used three singles, a walk, a hit batter, and a groundout to score four runs to go up 6-4 heading to the bottom half of the inning. BC quickly tied the game back up at 6 after
Michaela Carter singled to shortstop and
Baily Garin hit a two-run bomb to left center. Tied at six runs a piece, the teams headed to ITB (International Tie Breaker: where the last out the previous inning starts on second base). The Trailblazers bunted their runner over and scored her on a wild pitch but they would only get the one run. The Rams followed up with Jones bunting Stephens to third and she scored on Pennington's ground ball. In the ninth, OCU scored two runs on back to back singles to make the score 9-7. BC was unable to respond with any runs in the home half of the inning, allowing OCU to walk away with the game one victory. Garin got the loss on the mound for the Rams, but finished the game 2-5 at the plate with 2 RBIs; Pennington finished the game 3-4 with 4 RBIs.
Game two proved to be a battle of the bats as OCU put up 13 runs on 15 hits while BC put up 14 runs on 13 hits. The Trailblazers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning off of four hits, one of which was a two-run homerun from Rice. In the bottom of the second, Stephens reached base on an OCU error and advanced to second. Jones singled to center, scoring Stephens, then Pennington tripled to right, scoring Jones, and
Eryn Haley singled to left to score Pennington. In the top of the fourth, OCU scores four more on two hits, two hit batters, a walk and a BC error to go up 8-3. The Rams start chipping away at that lead as they would score two runs in the bottom half of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. In the bottom half of the fourth, Pennington singled and scored on Haley's triple to left; Haley scored on a ground out by Carter. In the fifth,
Morgan Sawyers and
Megan Arrington had back to back singles and moved into scoring position on a passed ball. Bartley picked up a RBI on a bunt groundout to score Sawyers; Stephens followed up with a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Arrington. In the top of the sixth, the Trailblazers added on another run after Aubrey Geis hit a solo homerun over the left field fence. In the bottom of the sixth, Haley singled to center, Carter reached on an error, Murphy reached on a dropped fly ball that allowed Haley to score, Sawyers walked, and Arrington grounded out to score Carter. Both teams headed to the seventh inning with the score tied at 9. OCU used five hits and one BC error to score four runs, putting them up 13-9 with the Rams down to their final three outs. Stephens was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Jones singled to center, advancing Stephens to second. Pennington singled to right, advancing Jones to second and scoring Stephens. Haley singled to the pitcher to load the bases. Carter singled to left field, scoring Jones and Pennington, and the throw home from the left fielder allowed Haley and Carter to advance to second and third. Sawyers then hit a ground ball to the second baseman that allowed Haley to score, but a bobble and a wild throw into the dugout allowed Carter to score the winning run for the Rams.
Megan Arrington made her college pitching debut and picked up the win on the mound for BC. Haley finished the game going 5-5 with 2 RBIs, Pennington was 3-5 with 2 RBIs and Jones was 2-4 with 2 RBIs. Carter also picked up 3 RBIs in the game.
The split moves BC to 14-28 on the season. The Rams wrapped up conference play last weekend and finished 3-17 in the AAC. The team will be on the road Wednesday and Thursday taking on Alice Lloyd and Kentucky Christian.
