DANVILLE, Ky. - The Hendrix College softball team wrapped their Southern Athletic Association series with Centre College with a double-header split on Sunday. The Warriors (5-8, 2-4) took the first game 8-6 and the host Colonels (8-2, 7-1) won the nightcap 7-6 in 11 innings.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning of game one, Hendrix scored two in the second to make it 3-2. Freshman
Samantha Schaefer led off with a single, then was bunted over by junior pitcher
Kayla Patton. After a walk was issued to freshman
Bryanna Carlisle, both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Fellow freshman right fielder
Madi Fires walked to load the bases. Sophomore second baseman
Victoria Hughes drove in Schaefer with a sac fly for the first run. Carlilsle then scored on another wild pitch.
Centre added another run in the second and one in the fifth to make the game 5-2. The Warriors exploded for six runs on six hits and two errors in the top of the sixth to gain an 8-5 advantage. Freshman first baseman
Deva Bharne earned an RBI with a bases loaded walk. Sophomore
Sydney Ozersky and junior
Shelby Anderson each had RBI-singles and freshman catcher
Nikki Sanders had the big hit of the inning with a two-run single. The Colonels added one more run in the bottom of the seventh.
Patton (1-2) earned her first win of the season throwing five innings. Carlisle picked up the two-inning save, the first in her career. Jessika Young (3-2) suffered the loss for Centre.
Hendrix struck first with a two-run single off the bat of Bharne in the top of the first of game two. Centre scored added a run in the bottom of the frame. Carlisle led the second off with a double and scored on a ground ball off the bat of freshman pitcher
Autumn Martin. The Colonels scored again in the second, but the Warriors went up 4-2 in the third when Bharne led off with a single and later scored on a
Madi Fires sacrifice fly.
Centre picked up another run in the fifth, but Bharne drove in Hughes, who led off with a base hit, on another hit to give the Warriors a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Two errors led to another Colonel run in the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, Centre loaded the bases with a hit batter and back-to-back walks with no outs. Martin recorded back-to-back strikeouts of Emma Ryder and Lauren Richards, but Alisha Russell drove in the tying run on a base hit up the middle.
The game went to extra innings and remained scoreless - thanks to a diving catch by Fires in center field in the bottom of the eighth - until the 10th when the international tiebreaker rule came into effect.
In the top of the 10th, Martin was placed on second and bunted over to third by Hughes. Ozersky followed with a double that plated Martin for the go-ahead run. Centre tied the game with a run in the bottom of the 10th. The Warriors loaded the bases in the top of the 11th but could not score. Centre won the game when Ashley Merkin started the bottom of the 11th on second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Ryder sac fly.
Erika Brewer (5-0) won the game for Centre despite allowing 15 hits and six walks. Martin (2-3) allowed nine hits, three earned runs and seven walks with four strikeouts.
Hendrix Notes- Game two was only the fourth time in program history the Warriors have gone 11 innings or more.
- Martin set a school record by coming to bat seven times. She also faced 52 batters, the second most in program history.
- Bharne had a big game with three hits and three RBI in the second game.
- Six Warriors recorded two or more hits in game two - Hughes, Ozersky, Sanders, Schaefer, Carlisle and Bharne.
- Sanders had a pir of hits, including a double, with two RBI in the opener. Ozersky and Patton also had two hits each in the first game.
- Hughes recorded four stolen bases moving the sophomore into fifth in school history with 16 in her career.
- The Warriors started seven freshmen in game two and they were responsible for 13 of the team's 15 hits.
Centre Notes- Young had three hits and two RBI in game two and left fielder Brittany Sears had two hits, including a double and two runs scored.
- Center fielder Alisha Russel went 3-for-4 with a RBIn in game one. Sears, Young, Baylee Hadley and Tori Silcox each had two hits in the opener.
Up NextHendrix will travel to Memphis, Tenn. to make up their series with Rhodes College on Tuesday and Wednesday.
