WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Carleton College softball team picked up a pair of victories on Tuesday, dispatching Middlebury College, 12-4 (5 inn.), and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 10-2. Five players had at least three hits on the day, including
Bryanna Schaffer (So./San Diego, Calif./Mar Vista), who also tallied four RBI over the two games.
"We did a really good job adjusting to the opposing pitchers today," said Carleton head coach
Amy Erickson. "Our pitchers continue to give us good outings, and we definitely picked up our defense today."
Game 1 Recap
Carleton 12, Middlebury 4 (5 inn.)
The Panthers (5-2) raced out to a 4-0 lead, pushing across three runs in the top of the first and another in the third.
The Knights (8-4) countered with a seven-run outburst in the bottom of the third as Carleton utilized three hits, three walks, and two errors.
Grace Colburn (Fy./Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge) contributed a key two-run single in the middle of the rally.
After batting around in the third inning, the Knights did the same in the fourth to push across four more runs. Schaffer and
Nikki Marsh (Sr./Salem, Conn./East Lyme) had run-scoring hits in the frame, while Colburn drew a bases-loaded walk, and
Faith Hanshaw (Sr./The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands Christian Academy) brought home another run with a groundout.
Cassie Cunniff (Sr./Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) collected a team-high five hits on the day. Her third single of the opening contest opened the bottom of the fifth inning, and Schaffer immediately followed with a game-ending double down the left field line. Cunniff raced all the way around to score, evoking the eight-run mercy rule.
Hanshaw went the distance in the circle and improved to 5-0 this season.
Game 2 Recap
Carleton 10, UW-Eau Claire 2
The game was scoreless until Carleton used singles by Marsh,
Helen Moses (Jr./Denver, Colo./Denver East), Schaffer, and
Ella Collins (So./Ashburn, Va./Riverside) to push three runs across in the top of the third. Collins delivered the biggest blow of that group with a two-run, two-out pinch-hit base knock.
After the Blugolds scratched out a run in the bottom of the frame, the Knights got that tally right back in the fourth inning as singles by Colburn and Marsh preceded
Amy Chen's (Jr./Kirkland, Wash./Lake Washington) RBI grounder.
Carleton then capitalized on two UWEC errors to notch a pair of unearned runs in the fifth, extending the lead to 6-1. A two-out single, stolen base, and an infield single led to the other UWEC run in the bottom half of the stanza.
The Knights were not done on offense, however, and scored twice in each of the final two frames. Moses and Cunniff had run-producing hits in the sixth inning, while
Emma Kartheiser (Sr./Oronoco, Minn./Century) and Marsh contributed RBI ground balls in the seventh.
Morgan Arnold (So./Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) got the starting nod on the rubber for Carleton and yielded one run over 2.1 innings.
Hala Soliman (Sr./Harrisburg, N.C./Lake Norman Charter) tossed the final 4.2 frames to earn the victory, improving to 3-1 on the season after allowing only 1 run and working out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will step away from competition before wrapping up its Florida trip with two apiece games on Thursday and Friday. The Knights face UW-Stevens Point and Kalamazoo College on March 23 followed by contests against Washington & Jefferson College and Elmhurst University on March 24.
