CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - It was another pair of one-run games for the softball team on Sunday. However, on this day against No 20 Campbellsville (31-11, 19-3 MSC) the Bears (18-14, 12-6 MSC) were unable to pick up a victory in either game as the host Tigers put themselves back in a tie for first place in the Mid-South Conference with just one week to go.
In the opening game, it was a single swing of the bat that would ultimately decide the final outcome. Campbellsville starter Victoria Decker retired the Bears' first nine hitters all in succession and was perfect through the first three innings. SSU starter Ali Thompson would hold the Tigers off the scoreboard until a leadoff home run from Adrean Jordan in third put Campbellsville up 1-0. That would be just the second of four hits all day that Thompson would surrender.
Ericka Leighty singled to break up the perfect game in the fourth and stole second with one out but would be stranded on the base paths. The Bears would also get a leadoff single from Abbey Barrett in the fifth and a one-out single from Leighty in the sixth. Leighty would move to second on a passed ball and a walk to Kelsey Jenkins would put two runners on with one out. However, Decker would escape the runners on first and third with one out jam with a strike out a grounder right back to her.
Barrett also started the seventh with a leadoff single into right. She was bunted into scoring position by Hannah Dittoe but a pop up on the infield and grounder back to the pitcher would give Decker the complete game shutout. Both starting pitchers allowed just four hits. Thompson did not walk a hitter and struck out three while Decker walked one but struck out nine in the win.
Game two also saw a low scoring start to the game as the Bears and Tigers each had just two hits over the first three innings. In addition to her three scoreless innings in the circle to start, Allie Chapman would record the game's first extra-base hit with a double to start the third inning before being stranded at third base.
The Tigers would break through on the scoreboard first with a one-out double and two-out RBI single in the fourth. They would add two more in the fifth with a one-out RBI triple that would score on a suicide squeeze during the next at-bat to make it 3-0. Campbellsville's Jordan would then hit her second home run of the day in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-0 heading to the seventh.
One-out singles by Jenkins and Kirsti Yates, combined with a Tigers' error, in the seventh inning put runners on first and third with one out. Campbellsville would get the next hitter go down swinging. Barrett would then find herself in an 0-2 count with the Bears down to their final strike before she launched a home run over the left field fence to make the score 4-3.
Dittoe, who was the potential game-tying run, would reach on an error but Campbellsville would settle down and get the next hitter to ground out to first and escape the inning with a 4-3 lead and win in order.
The Bears held a 9-8 advantage in the hit column for the game and played flawless defense while Campbellsville committed four errors. However, SSU would frustratingly end the game with a total of nine runners left on base, including at least one runner in each of the last six innings.
Softball currently sits in a fourth-place tie with Cumberland University in the MSC standings. SSU has at least six more games remaining in its regular season, including a showdown on the final Saturday of conference play with the aforementioned Bulldogs. Before that final doubleheader against Cumberland, softball will play four games with Bluefield. The Bears will travel to the Rams' field on Tuesday at 2 p.m. before a home doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
