Lady Mountaineers swarmed by Spalding Softball
Yesterday, Berea College softball suffered a loss in their second to last game of the season against Spalding University. The overwhelming power exhibited by the Spalding batters was enough to put the Lady Mountaineers behind early on. In the first inning, Spalding scored five runs as the Berea’s fielders scrambled to keep the runners on base. After the second inning the score remained 5-0 Spalding, as neither team could get their offense fired up.
As the teams entered the fifth inning, things began to heat up. Spalding led off with an astonishing eight runs that seemed incredibly daunting for Berea to overcome. The inning seemed doomed from the start when Kaylin Rucker got to first, stole second, and was doubled home by Spalding’s pitcher, Grace Sweat. It was all downhill for Berea from here. The very next play, Spalding’s Catcher, Callie Janek hit a homer that would earn Spalding two more runs.
After Berea managed to earn the outs necessary to put their own batters behind the plate things began to look up. Hallie Mattingly singled with a line drive over third base that moved Devan Dowdel to second. Dowdel had been walked, and made quick work of advancing the second after the hit. Up to bat was Jacqui Howard, a junior from Kailua, Hawaii. As the pitch came in, the field stilled for a moment everyone watched the batter. The bat cracked as Howard homered over left field, sending both Mattingly and Dowdel home before she followed behind them.
The fourth and fifth innings would remain scoreless as the defense of both teams kept a tight grip on the field. Berea College will play. While the tenacity of the Lady mountaineers is visible in how hard they played after taking a loss in the first of two games, it was not enough to land a win. The Lady Mountaineers will play a double header against Alice Lloyd College Today at Five.
