WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Carleton College softball team split its two games on the final day of game action over Spring Break. The Knights suffered a walkoff 7-6 loss to Washington & Jefferson College but bounced back with a 3-1 win over Elmhurst University.
Game 1 Recap
Wash. & Jeff. 7, Carleton 6
Seven players had multi-hit games for the Knights (9-7), including a 3-for-3 game for
Bryanna Schaffer (So./San Diego, Calif./Mar Vista).
Carleton jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held a 6-3 advantage midway through the game, but the Presidents (6-5) rallied late to hand the Knights their third consecutive defeat.
The first of
Nikki Marsh's (Sr./Salem, Conn./East Lyme) two hits was a two-run single that capped a four-run rally to start the game. Washington & Jefferson countered that outburst with three tallies in the second inning
Cassie Cunniff (Sr./Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) had her 12th multi-hit game of the season, including a solo home run to centerfield in the fourth inning. Schaffer then doubled and raced home on
Laurie Avila's (Sr./Sugar Grove, Ill./Oswego) second run-scoring single of the game.
The Presidents pulled to within 6-5 with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the fourth.
Carleton missed opportunities to pad its lead, coming up empty with two on and two out in the fifth and the bases loaded and only one out in the sixth. Meanwhile, Knights' starter
Faith Hanshaw (Sr./The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands Christian Academy) faced the minimum over those same two frames.
Washington & Jefferson started the bottom of the seventh with consecutive singles and a sacrifice bunt. Kasey Scears then ended the game with a two-run double to left center.
Game 2 Recap
Carleton 3, Elmhurst 1
Hala Soliman (Sr./Harrisburg, N.C./Lake Norman Charter) and Bluejays' ace Brianna Pisa locked up in a classic pitchers' duel.
Pisa limited the Knights to one hit over the first four innings, while Soliman yielded only two singles over the same span. Both pitchers went the distance and allowed only one earned run between them.
A throwing error opened the door for Elmhurst (5-4) to score a two-out, unearned run in the top of the fifth, but Carleton answered with an unearned run of its own in the bottom of the frame when
Amy Chen (Jr./Kirkland, Wash./Lake Washington) reached on an error and eventually scored on
Ella Collins' (So./Ashburn, Va./Riverside) pinch-hit single.
Soliman worked a scoreless sixth, and the Carleton bats went back to work. Schaffer picked up her fifth hit of the day, sparking a streak of four consecutive singles that netted the Knights two runs.
The Bluejays got a runner aboard in the seventh, but Soliman ended the game with a strikeout, sending Carleton back to Minnesota with a victory.
Soliman scattered six hits and did not yield an earned run while tossing her first complete game of the season. Pisa allowed seven hits with no walks.
Cunniff saw her season-opening 15-game hit streak snapped with a 0-for-3 stat line, but she still leads MIAC players with a .596 batting average and .625 slugging percentage.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton is scheduled to open MIAC play at Concordia College-Moorhead on Saturday, April 1.
