EVANSVILLE, Ind. – An eight run rally in the sixth inning led the Kentucky Wesleyan College softball team past Hillsdale, 14-8, before falling to Drury 6-1 at day two of the Midwest Crossover Regional hosted by University of Southern Indiana at Deaconess Sports Park. With the split, the Panthers move to 7-5 on the season.
Game One: Hillsdale 8 – Kentucky Wesleyan 14
Hillsdale quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead but the Panthers responded with three of their own plus two in the second to regain a 5-3 lead. Meredith Daunhauer led off the bottom of the first with a single and scored on a double down the left field line from Maddie Dawson. Jaylin Tidwell cleared the bases with a blast to straight center to knot the game at three after one.
With two outs in the bottom of the second, Daunhauer flashed her speed, safely reaching first with a bunt then stealing second, and reaching third on a wild pitch. Dawson knocked a single through the left side to drive in Daunhauer. A throwing error from the Hillsdale shortstop put runners on the corners for the Panthers. Dawson scored on a passed ball to put Kentucky Wesleyan ahead 5-3.
The Chargers tacked on three runs in the top of the fourth to regain a one-run lead before Kentucky Wesleyan knotted things up again in the bottom of the fifth. Tidwell drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Courtney Lockwood hit a hard line drive up the middle to bring home Tidwell from second.
Back-to-back doubles in the top of the sixth gave Hillsdale two-run lead, their largest of the game.
Kentucky Wesleyan reeled off six hits to score eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to jump out to a 14-8 lead. Back-to-back singles from Daunhauer and Dawson drove in three runs for the Panthers. With two outs and Dawson on third, Jaylin Parker brought Dawson home with a single. A three-run home run from Tempel capped off the eight run inning for the Panthers, and allowed them to hold on for the 14-8 win.
Daunhauer finished game one a perfect four-for-four at the plate with three runs scored and one driven in. Dawson led the team with four runs driven in after batting three-for-four with three runs scored. Lockwood finished three-for-four while Tidwell went two-for-three. Jaclyn Parker, Mallory Nease, and Jamie Tempel each tabbed one hit.
Jessica Carmon improved to 2-1 after pitching 6.0 innings and allowed eight runs off of 10 hits. In one inning of relief, Maci Brown struck out two and didn't allow any hits.
Game Two: Drury 6 – Kentucky Wesleyan 1
The Panthers bats cooled off in game two, only tabbing four hits. It was 1-0 ball game until Drury opened up the scoring with five runs in the fifth inning off back-to-back two-run singles and a two-run home run.
Kentucky Wesleyan got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Nease led off the inning with a monster home run over the left field fence for her first dinger of the season. The rally was too little too late as Drury took game two 6-1.
Nease finished game two two-for-three at the plate while Dawson and Tidwell each tabbed one hit. Casey Smith suffered her third loss of the season, pitching 5.0 innings and striking out one while allowing six runs off of seven hits. In 2.0 innings of relief, Autumn Grady struck out one and allowed two hits.
The Panthers head to Clermont, Fla. for eight games in four days over spring break. Kentucky Wesleyan will be back in action on Monday Feb. 27 against Lake Erie College at 1 pm followed by Tiffin University at 3:30 pm.
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