Ravens Fight to Split with St. Mary’s

The Anderson University Ravens (6-22) split in a doubleheader with St. Mary's College (Ind.) (9-14) on Friday at the Raven Softball Field.

Anderson took Game 1 4-2 and fell in Game 2 9-5 in eight innings.

Game 1: Anderson 4, St. Mary's 2

In Game 1, the Ravens got another winning performance from sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Hawkins (3-2). Hawkins went seven innings, allowing only four hits and two earned runs.

The scoring started in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Kyleigh Lowry doubled down the left field line to put a runner in scoring position. Two batters later, the Ravens pitcher, Hawkins singled up the middle to score Lowry and give the Ravens a 1-0 lead after the first two innings. 

St. Mary's would answer in the top of the third though, scoring two runs and giving them a 2-1 lead going into the bottom half of the inning.

The first two batters of the bottom of the third got out for the Ravens. Ashley Wheeler started the two-out rally for the Ravens with a single through the right side of the infield. Alysa Marcin then reached on a throwing error that would advance Wheeler to third, Marcin also advanced to second on the error. Molly Buck would single up the middle to score Wheeler and advance Marcin to third. The next batter, Lowry, would add another hit to her total early in the game with an RBI single that scored Marcin and that gave the Ravens a 3-2 lead after the third.

Neither team scored again until the sixth when the Ravens added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth off of an infield single from junior outfielder Brianna Bell that scored Lowry. 

The Ravens went into the top of the seventh up 4-2 and good defense mixed with great pitching helped them secure the Game 1 victory.

Inside the Box Score

• Taylor Johnson - 2-4
• Ashley Wheeler - 1-3, 1 Run
• Kyleigh Lowry - 3-3, Double, 2 Runs, RBI
• Molly Buck - 2-3, RBI
• Kaitlyn Hawkins - 7.0 IP, 3 K's, 2 ER, 1-2, RBI

Game 2: St. Mary's 9, Anderson 5

St. Mary's was able to start the game with a run in the first inning after getting a couple runners on base.

In the bottom half of the first, the Ravens' hot bats from Game 1 continued into the start of Game 2. Taylor Johnson walked to lead off the inning and was moved to second by a sacrifice bunt from Ariel Lee. With two outs in the inning, Marcin singled into right field that scored Johnson. One batter later, the Game 2 starting pitcher for the Ravens, Buck, sent a deep home run out to right field that scored Marcin on the play and put the Ravens up 3-1 after the first inning.

St. Mary's was able to score one run in both the second and third inning to tie the game up 3-3. 

Neither team was able to score again until the top of the sixth when St. Marys was able to score two runs off of a home run from Grace Renschen. 

Going into the bottom of the sixth inning down 5-3 the Ravens needed life. A pinch hitter, Paige Wickard, came in for Lee and sparked the Raven offense with a leadoff double. She was subbed back out of the game for Lee. With one out in the inning, Marcin would add another hit to her line, singling Lee to third. A sacrifice fly from Molly Buck helped score a run for the Ravens. The inning ended with the Ravens down 5-4.

After a flawless top of the seventh from the Ravens on defense, they were down by one run and down to their last three outs. Lowry would lead off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Rylee Morris would move the tying run to second with a sacrifice bunt. The next batter, Kylie Sloan, singled up the middle that advanced Lowry to third. Lowry would score on the play due to an error made by the Belles' center fielder tying the game at 5-5.

St. Mary's would start the extra inning off with a two-run, four-bag error from the Ravens on defense and then followed it up with a two-run home run from McKenna Myers making it a 9-5 lead.

The Ravens were unable to answer in the eighth inning and the game ended, 9-5.

Inside the Box Score

• Paige Wickard - 1-1, Double
• Molly Buck - 7.1 IP, 11 H, 3 ER, 1-2, HR, 3 RBI, Run 
• Kylie Sloan - 2-3
• Alysa Marcin - 2-4, RBI, Run

Head Coach Tony Holloway's Comments

"I thought this was the first time all year that we played for 14 innings. Not counting that extra inning, I thought we played and competed the entire time. We got behind, came back and knotted it up, kept the lead and added an insurance run in that first game. We did everything we needed to do to win. We got a really good pitching performance from Kaitlyn Hawkins and it kind of carried over into the next game. In the second game, we got behind again and we chipped away at it. We tied it up with a big pinch hit off the bench from Paige Wickard and moved her around to score. Bottom line is for 14 innings, we competed and did everything we needed to do and it's the team I've been looking for all year."

Up Next

The Ravens take on Calvin University (19-9) in non-conference action on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Grand Rapids, Mich.