SEWANEE, Tenn. –
Sydney Tackett collected three total hits in the doubleheader and
Grace Black drove in one run, but Asbury plated two runs in the sixth to win the opener and used two big innings in the second game, taking a doubleheader, 3-1 and 9-0, against Sewanee in softball action here Saturday.
The Tigers (7-19) trailed 1-0 in the first contest before a single by
Maggie Barker and then an RBI single from Black drove home pinch-runner
Kaylie Smith in the bottom of the fifth, tying the game at one. The Eagles (16-10) answered with two runs in the sixth on a two-run single from Emma Popplewell.
Reagan Huskey (4-11) suffered the loss in game one, scattering nine hits and allowing three runs. She walked one and struck out three. The Eagles scored one run in the fourth and two more in the sixth and Huskey escaped a bases loaded with no outs jam in the second inning as well.
Asbury starter Sidney Hansen (5-3) gave up one run on four hits and did not walk or strikeout a batter. The Tigers drilled half a dozen balls off Hansen but right at defenders, four of those to the centerfielder Moira Tinsley.
Emily Zink posted three hits, Danielle Oldfield added two hits and Emma Popplewell collected two hits and drove in all three runs for the Eagles.
Asbury plated three runs in the first inning and then scored six times in the sixth to take the second contest. Kaitlyn Wilson recorded two hits and Tinsley scored twice, backing up a shutout from Josie Deatherage (6-3), who gave up four hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Abbie Bucker (2-5) suffered the loss, allowing six runs, four earned, on eight hits with two strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Tackett registered two of the team's four hits in the contest.
The Eagles loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning of the opener with singles from Zink, Daegan Flamm and Popplewell, but Sami Bottom grounded to first, with
Ansley Giffin throwing home for the force. Flamm tried to score on a wild pitch but the ball bounced back to
Hannah Wilson, who tagged out the runner. After a walk to Tori Giurgevich, Abby Moffat flied out to shallow right to end the inning.
Zink doubled to left to leadoff the fourth for and pinch-runner Kaitlyn Wilson moved to third on Flamm's sacrifice bunt. Popplewell grounded out to short, plating the run for a 1-0 Eagles edge.
In the fifth Barker singled to left, just the second hit of the game for the Tigers, and Smith moved to second on a sac bunt from
Sophie Nolen. Black's single to left scored Smith, who tumbled over the catcher onto the plate as the throw came in from the outfield, knotting the game at one.
The Eagles regained the lead in the sixth after a leadoff double to center from Tinsley and a bloop single to short left by Zink. Flamm's sac bunt pushed the runners to second and third and Popplewell followed with a two-run single to leftcenter for a 3-1 Asbury advantage.
The Eagles started quickly in the second game with three runs in the first.
Moffat singled off the third base bag and stole second before a double to rightcenter by Kaitlyn Wilson, who took third on a lineout to right from Natalie Ison. Tinsley then singled to left, plating a run, and the ball got all the way to the wall, allowing Tinsley to reach third. Zink popped out to short right and Tinsley scored on the play.
Tackett singled in the second inning and doubled in the fourth and Smith beat out an infield single in the third for the Tigers, but those were lone baserunners in each frame. Buckner walked and
Hannah Wilson singled in the sixth but were stranded to end the game.
Asbury broke the game open in the sixth with six runs on four hits and one costly error.
Ison reached on an infield single to leadoff and after a groundout, Zink's grounder up the middle went off
Hannah Wilson's glove for an error. Flamm then doubled to leftcenter, plating a run and ending the day for Buckner in the circle.
Popplewell drove in a run with a double to leftcenter as well and Bottom's blooper between home and third went off the glove of a diving Barker. Deatherage walked, forcing in a run, and Moffat flied out down the leftfield line, plating a run. Kaitlyn Wilson then popped up to second but the ball was dropped, allowing the final two runners to come across.
Sewanee ends an eight-game homestand next weekend with a three-game series against Centre College beginning with a single game Friday at 3 p.m.
