Columbus, Miss. – The Centenary softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with the Mississippi University for Women Owls on Tuesday in the Ladies' first two road contests of the season.
Centenary (4-5) won game one, 6-3, but fell 7-6 in eight innings in the nightcap. The Ladies had their two-game winning streak snapped in game two after the Maroon and White split a doubleheader last Saturday at home with Jarvis Christian, winning the second game by a score of 3-1. The Owls (6-2) were coming off a 3-1 performance in the Millsaps Tournament in Jackson, Miss. last weekend.
Freshman Taylor Mayo (Shreveport), the designated player in game one, went 3-3 at the plate with one RBI, two runs scored, and one walk. Senior left fielder Maddie Fremen (Luling, La.) went 2-3 and scored a run and walked once. Senior center fielder Haley Campbell (Erath, La.) went 1-4 with an RBI after going 5-8 in Saturday's doubleheader versus Jarvis Christian.
Freshman pitcher Zoe Lanier (Hughes Springs, Texas) went 1-3 with a two-run home run and two RBI, a walk and a run scored. She also picked up the win on the mound as she pitched six innings and allowed three runs, just one earned run, on six hits and walked one and struck out one. She improved her record to an even 1-1 this season.
Sophomore Ashley Hunter (Benton, La.) relived Lanier and pitched the final inning, walking one and allowing no runs and no hits. MacKenzie Denton took the loss for the Owls as she allowed five runs, four earned, and six hits in 5.1 innings pitched. She struck out six but walked seven batters.
The Ladies jumped out to a 3-0 lead after their first at-bat as junior catcher Erin Lewis (Leesville, La.) drew a one-out walk, stole second, and scored on an RBI single by Mayo. Lanier then homered to score Mayo and put the Ladies up by three. The Owls responded immediately by tying the game in the bottom half of the first and it would remain deadlocked until the top of the sixth.
Fremen singled to lead off the inning and sophomore second baseman Jaymee Wilkinson (Brazoria, Texas) sacrificed Fremen to second on a bunt but scored on an error by Owls third baseman Jana Kay Newell. Campbell then singled in junior Brittney Broussard (Rayne, La.) to give the Ladies a 5-3 advantage. Centenary added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Wilkinson, scoring Mayo for a 6-3 lead.
Both offenses came alive in game two as the teams combined for 13 runs and 28 hits. The Ladies rallied from a 4-0 deficit after five innings with three runs each in the sixth and seventh innings to take a 6-4 lead. The Owls though responded with a pair in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game and then won it in the eighth on a two-out walk-off single by left fielder Lillian Ergle.
Fremen and Mayo each went 3-4 in game two with Fremen driving in one run and Mayo collecting two RBI. Six other Ladies collected at least one hit and Lanier went 2-4 with an RBI. Sophomore Kirstyn Gomez (Deer Park, Texas) suffered the loss on the mound as she fell to 0-2 on the season.
Centenary opens Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play at home on Saturday, March 7 with a doubleheader against the University of Dallas with games scheduled for Noon and 2 p.m. and game three set for Noon on Sunday, March 8.
A link to the complete season schedule is available here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/sball/2019-20/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic events.
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