LEESBURG, Fla. -- Umpires? Check. Sunshine? Check.
At long last, the Heidelberg University softball team played two games in a day at The Spring Games. The Berg won both, dismantling Rivier, 12-1, and holding off Ohio Wesleyan, 7-6. The Student Princes head into their off day with a 3-1 record.
On the day,
Kat Brady tallied a team-high four hits, driving in two.
Emma Dean was 3-for-5 with three RBI.
Hanna Blasinsky,
Murissa Drown,
Halie Monhollen, and
Gabbie Stallbaum all had multi-hit afternoons. Stallbaum drove in four.
GAME ONE: BERG 12 RIVIER 1
Caitlin Dems took a perfect game into the fifth inning, but had to settle for a complete game two-hitter. She struck out eight Raiders hitters.
Dems (2-1) was supported by another impressive offensive performance from her teammates. HU broke a scoreless tie in the third inning. Monhollen, a foe of rental van spiders, singled and stole second. After moving up on a wild pitch, she raced home on a safety squeeze by Blasinsky. Blasinsky scored on a single by Dean.
In the fourth, The Berg scored six times with two outs.
Maddie Gossard led off the inning with a double, but had only advanced to third with two outs. Brady blooped in a hit that plated Gossard and
Riley Cruse. Blasinsky followed with a similar hit that drove in Brady. Next, Dean tripled down the line in left, then scored on a wild pitch. Drown doubled, then Stallbaum and Gossard were hit by pitches. Kalie Sowers forced in the sixth run with a walk.
Paige Leitner, Stallbaum,
Kennedy Shreve, and
Meghan Bame each had RBI singles in the four-run fifth inning.
A seeing-eye single with one out in the fifth for Rivier broke up Dems' perfect game. The shutout was broken up by a double-steal later in the inning.
GAME TWO: BERG 7 OWU 6
Though their campuses are separated by less than 60 miles, Heidelberg and Ohio Wesleyan met more than 1,000 miles from home for a midday showdown. The Student Princes pounced early, taking a 4-0 lead before recording an out in the bottom of the first inning. Brady reached on a bunt single and moved around the bases on walks to Blasinsky, Dean, and Drown. Stallbaum didn't walk -- but instead ripped a bases-clearing double to the wall in the left center gap.
The Battling Bishops cut the deficit in half in the second, but left the tying runs in scoring position.
Heidelberg got the two runs back in the bottom of the second. Monhollen drew a walk on a 12-pitch at-bat -- which included a foul ball through the tarp tube down the left field line. Brady followed with another bunt single before the pair advanced on a sacrifice by Blasinsky. Dean drove both in with a single to left.
Ohio Wesleyan scored two unearned runs in the fourth off of reliever
Maggie Hoffman (1-0).
Heidelberg tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Bame laid down a sacrifice bunt, but a throwing error allowed pinch runner
Grace Anthony to score.
The run came in handy in the seventh.
Payton Scheid (Sv., 1), who entered with runners in scoring position in the fifth and got out of the jam with a strikeout, gave up two runs in the inning. She secured the win, however, with a strike out and a pair of pop ups.
UP NEXT:
After a day off to unwind, Heidelberg returns to action on Thursday. HU battles Saint Mary's College at 3 p.m. and Bethany College at 5:15 p.m. Both games are scheduled for Field 4 at Hancock Park.
