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Winter Haven, Fla.- The Wheeling University Softball team (2-6), (0-0) took to the field for day two of “The Spring Games”. Despite a good effort in game one, the Cardinals fell to Slippery Rock University, but the team was rewarded in game two with a dominant fourth inning against Dominican University of New York. The Chargers attempted a comeback, but the Cardinals held them off to secure a 5-4 victory.
Game One: Slippery Rock- 9 Wheeling- 4
Despite giving up a single on the first batter she faced and walking the next, Ryleigh Peters remained calm in the circle. With both runners in scoring position and no outs yet, she recorded all three outs consecutively and picked up a strikeout for the second out. The Cardinals started out very similar to Slippery Rock: KeKe Warrix hi a single, stole a base, and MacKenzie Burns earned a walk. The difference though was the bat of Brooklyn Sanders; Her single brought Warrix across the plate and gave Wheeling the 1-0 lead to end the first inning.
Slippery Rock earned two walks and then homered out to left field to go up 3-1 with one out against them. The Rock walked in a run after they had loaded the bases, but the defense sat SRU’s offense down with a groundout to third base. The Rock now had a 4-1 lead. Priscilla Villarreal drew a walk, but the Cards remained down 4-1 at the end of the second.
Peters started the top of the third off the right way, forcing the SRU hitters to groundout to the infield, but after she had a wild throw that hit the batter, Slippery Rock found themselves on the basepaths again. Two RBI singles gave the Rock a five-run lead over the Cardinals and prompted a switch in the circle to Kaylin Shields. She picked up the final out to keep the game moving. Burns opened the bottom of the third with another walk. However, a fielder’s choice ball got Burns out, but Sanders was on first. An error by The Rock moved Sanders up and Grace Mummery took her place on first. Yet the two were left stranded as SRU was still up 6-1.
The Rock reached first base on an error and managed to get on second. Then, a well-hit double brought the runner home for a 7-1 Rock lead. Shields and the defense picked up the final three outs in a row, picking up a strikeout in the process. Villarreal started the bottom of the fourth with a single. Once Taylor Walsh subbed in for her as the pinch runner, she advanced to second base after Warrix picked up a single. Burns was up next,and she drove a double out to centerfield. A throwing error from that player allowed Burns to move to third and allow Walsh and Warrix enough time to touch home plate. By the end of the fourth, Slippery Rock led 7-3.
Shields pitched well, and the defense turned all three outs in the infield, allowing the Wheeling offense to get back into the box. Denise Carrillo and Mummery each drew walks to get on base. Two wild pitches resulted in Carrillo scoring and Mummery advancing to third. Villarreal also drew a walk as well as advanced to second on yet another wild pitch, but both runners were left on base as Wheeling now trailed by three, 7-4 by the end of the fifth.
The Cardinal defense was able to turn a double play, and Shields caught a flyball to sit The Rock down in order. However, Wheeling also went down in order following a pitching change. In the top of the seventh, a pinch hitter for The Rock doubled and two sacrifice bunts gave SRU another run to add. The Rock picked up another run following two singles that ended their half of the inning. Mummery tried to spark the offense with a single in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not meant to be as the Cardinals fell to The Rock by a final score of 9-4.
KeKe Warrix went 2-4 at the plate today, totaling two hits and two hits. Mackenzie Burns and Brooklyn Sanders each tallied one hit and one RBI. Denise Carrillo and Taylor Walsh scored once. Ryleigh Peters pitched 2.2 innings and struck out two batters, while Kaylin Shields pitched 4.1 innings and struck one batter out.
Game Two: Dominican (NY)- 4 Wheeling- 5
The first inning did not have much action as the defense on both sides played well enough. Priscilla Villarreal drew a walk with one out against her in the top of the second, but a double play left her on first. Dominican singled to center field to pick up the first hit of the game, but Maria Clark and pitched defesnively to obtain the three outs needed to move along. The third inning played out similarly to the first, except Clark picked up two strikeouts in the bottom of the third.
The top of the fourth started out with Mackenzie Burns driving a single to left field. Once Ava Kresak subbed in for her at first, she stole second, and then Denise Carrillo brought Kresak home with an RBI single. Carrillo turned the single into two bases and was in scoring position to set the Wheeling offense up for success. Grace Mummery laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Carrillo to third, and then Kaylin Shields popped a ball to the outfield for a single, which gave Carrillo time to score and put her squad up by two. With one out against her, Villarreal doubled to left field and put her and Shields on second and third base respectively. A passed ball thrown by the new pitcher for the Chargers allowed Shields to score and Villarreal to advance to third base. Riley Pearlman kept the train moving when she hustled safely to first following a dropped third strike. The offense kept coming as Mikaela Holp singled to the shortstop after Pearlman stole second, and on the hit, Pearlman crossed the plate to put the Cardinals up 5-0 at the end of their half of the fourth.
The Chargers got a runner on first after being hit by a pitch and then a single to center field got the runner home to score their first run of the game. The Cardinals ended their time on defense with a 4-3 throw from Carrillo to Pearlman and a caught fly ball by Clark. Wheeling still led 5-1. With one out against her, Carrillo made contact with the ball to drive it out to centerfield for a single, but the offense was unable to generate anything else, so the game moved to the bottom of the fifth.
Wheeling managed to get the first wo outs relatively quickly. Holp caught a lineout in centerfield, and Clark picked up another strikeout. However, Dominican was not done yet. The Chargers got on base with a single and then back-to-back errors by the defense gave the Chargers their second run of the day. A walk got another Charger on base, and a wild pitch made it 5-3 Cardinals. Then, a single gives Dominican another run, Kaylin Shields was handed the ball for the Cards, and as she recorded the final out of the fifth inning, Dominican found themselves only down by one, 5-4.
The Cards went down in order, but fortunately enough, so did the Chargers. Shields tallied three strikeouts on 12 pitches to keep Wheeling on top. KeKe Warrix and Burns hit consecutive singles that put Warrix on second and Burns on first to start the top of the seventh. Mummery loaded the bases after she drew a walk with two outs against her. Unfortunately, Wheeling could not take advantage of the moment, and it gave the Chargers hope for a comeback.
Dominican immediately got on first after hitting an infield single, meaning the tying run was on base and the potential game-winning run could be next. Shields used three pitches to strikeout the next batter and nine pitches for the next batter to pop out to the Holp in the outfield. The Chargers became aggressive as the runner on first got to second base after a wild pitch. Then, another infield single put runners on the corners for Dominican. Despite the drama and build up, Taylor Walsh caught the final out in left field to hold off the Chargers’ comeback, 5-4.
Denise Carrillo went a perfect 4-4 at the plate, recording two hits, an RBI, and a run. Mackenzie Burns followed behind her, going 3-4 in the box to pick up two hits, a walk, and a stolen base. Mikaela Holp, Kaylin Shields, Priscilla Villarreal, and KeKe Warrix all recorded one hit. Maria Clark picked up the win, pitching 4.2 innings and recording three strikeouts. Kaylin Shields pitched 2.1 innings and tallied four strikeouts.
The Wheeling University Softball team will be able to rest and enjoy the Florida sun tomorrow but return to action against the University of Sioux Falls at 12pm and then Seton Hill University right after, at 2:15pm.