CLERMONT, Fla. -- Houghton softball Head Coach Brianna Allen had a goal of scoring 160 runs this season. If her team keeps up the pace it has set in Florida, they just might reach that goal before they return north.
The team, now 3-1, has scored 36 runs over its first four games of the season.
The Highlander won twice on Wednesday, taking a thrilling 16-15 over Johnson State to open the day and finishing with an 8-5 victory over Concordia-Moorhead.
In game one, the Highlanders went scoreless over the first three innings while allowing two runs to the Badgers in the bottom of the first. Houghton pulled ahead 4-2 in the fourth with
Katelyn Cook (Clifton Park, NY , Shenendehowa ) and
Tanya Hatton (Greene, NY , Afton ) providing run-scoring singles and two other runs coming across on passed balls.
Johnson State took advantage of rain and strong winds that rolled in in the fifth inning that affected the Highlanders defensively. The Badgers scored eight runs on just two hits in the inning. Errors, passed balls and wild pitches aided the Badgers. The Highlanders responded with eight runs of their own in the top of the sixth to go back up 12-10. Cook and
Ashley Schenk (Victoria, BC, Pacific Christian ) drove home runs with singles, before
Taylor Sile (Hilton, NY, Hilton ) drove home three with a triple. Hatton finished the inning with a triple that brought Sile home.
Johnson State pulled back four runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 14-12, but Houghton scored twice in top of the seventh to even the score at 14. With two outs and their hopes slipping away, the Highlanders got back to back singles and a walk to load the bases, then scored twice on a series of Badger errors. Relief pitcher
Kaylee Jentsch (Orchard Park, NY, Orchard Park ) walked one and forced three groundouts to retire the Badgers in the bottom of the seventh.
The international tie-breaker rule put Hatton on second to start the eighth and the freshman moved to third on a sac bunt by
Toni Kling (Wellsville, NY, Wellsville ) and scored on a
Justine Phillips (Cato, NY, Cato Meridian ) single.
Bailey Shattell (Syracuse, NY, Faith Heritage ) nailed a triple to bring home Phillips and give the Highlanders a 16-14 lead.
Sile came on in relief in the bottom of the eighth and gave up one run on one hit while striking out one batter to earn the save.
Jentsch, who came on in relief of starter Hatton in the fifth, picked up the win on the mound. At the plate, Schenk was 3-for-5 and scored three runs, while Sile finished 2-for-3 and drove in three runs. Hatton had two hits, three runs, and two RBI.
The second game of the day pitted the Highlanders against Concordia-Moorhead of Minnesota.
The Cobbers scored a single run in both the first and second innings to go up 2-0, but the Highlanders responded with a run in the bottom of the second, two in the third and four in the fourth to break the game open. And Sile did her part on the mound, going the distance with seven strikeouts and no walks, while allowing just two earned runs on nine hits.
Hatton continued her strong play at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.
Alishia Foss (Medina, NY , Medina) and Justine Phillips each had two RBI and Sile helped her cause with one hit and two RBI.
Houghton returns to action with two games Thursday. The Highlanders take on St. Mary's (Minn.) at 9 a.m. and then Lyndon State (Vt.) at 11 a.m.
