Cannonsburg, Ky. – Shawnee State softball split with Kentucky Christian on Wednesday afternoon, losing game one 4-0 but taking game two 12-4 in five innings.
Kentucky Christian would strike first in game one, pushing across a run in the bottom of the first. With one out, Jade Spurlock would hit a double to center field, just beating the throw of Stacy Trenholm (FR/Lancaster, Ohio). She would reach third on a passed ball, with McKenzie Vanover walking on the pitch. Cassie Adkins then singled through second base, scoring Spurlock and giving Kentucky Christian the early 1-0 lead after one inning.
The Knights would tack on two more in the bottom of the third. Spurlock would lead off the inning with a single. She would then score when Vanover would blast a two-run home run to left-center, giving Kentucky Christian a 3-0 lead.
Kentucky Christian would nearly score in the bottom of the fifth. With two on and two out, Kelly House would bloop a single to right field. Vanover would round third to score, but Tori Bevington would fire home from right field, her throw easily beating Vanover and Megan Shupert-Martin (JR/West Portsmouth, Ohio) applied the tag to hold the score at 3-0.
KCU would extend their lead again in the bottom of the sixth. Whitney McKay would lead off the inning by being hit by a pitch. Sarah Fisher would move McKay to second with a bunt, and Taylor Austin would hit a sharp grounder to third that would be fielded by Michal Cunningham (SO/Wheelersburg, Ohio), but Cunningham would have no throw to put two on with one out. Cartney Schoolcraft would bunt the two runners over, and with two outs Spurlock would single up the middle to score McKay and give Kentucky Christian a 4-0 lead. Shawnee State would get runners on in both the sixth and seventh, but fail to push any runs across to fall to KCU in game one.
Cartney Schoolcraft picked up the game one win, allowing no runs on two hits in seven innings, striking out seven. Tatum Wise took the loss, allowing four runs on 10 hits in six innings.
Game two would start off with a bang as Michal Cunningham would lead off with a shot to center field; Cunningham would be cut down at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. Ashtyn Saunders (SO/Lancaster, Ohio) would follow with an infield single. With two outs, Kayla Koch (SR/Lucasville, Ohio) would shoot a ball into the gap in right-center, scoring Saunders on an RBI double to give Shawnee State a 1-0 lead. Stacy Trenholm then blooped a single into center field, scoring Koch; Trenholm would be gunned down attempting to get to second on the throw home, ending the inning with the Bears holding a 2-0 lead.
Kentucky Christian would hit back in the bottom of the first take the lead. With one out, Jade Spurlock would double to left-center. McKenzie Vanover would then single to left field, and reach second by stealing. With two outs, Brianna Crooks would double off the right field fence to tie the game. Kelly House then hit a liner down the left field line that tipped off of Katlyn Gleich (JR/Grove City, Ohio)'s glove and into the corner for a double, scoring Crooks. Whitney McKay then singled up the middle, but House would be forced to hold at third. Sarah Fisher would fly out to center field to end the inning, but not before Kentucky Christian would take a 3-2 lead on Shawnee State.
Shawnee State would re-take the lead in the top of the second. Haley Rawlins (SO/South Point, Ohio) and Mackenzie Riley (JR/Proctorville, Ohio) would work one out walks to put two on with one out. Megan Shupert-Martin would then ground a double into the left-center field gap, scoring both runners to give SSU a 4-3 lead. Shupert-Martin would get to third on Michal Cunningham's groundout to second, and would score when Saunders would pop a ball up on the infield; McKay would kick the ball into foul territory, allowing Saunders to advance to second on an error, with the hit ruled a single. Saunders then scored on a grounder from Marisa Brown (JR/Liberty Township, Ohio); Brown would reach on an infield single, and Saunders would score all the way from second as Samantha Mitchell was forced into a diving play. Kayla Koch would then double to the fence in right-center to put runners at second and third with two outs, and driving McKay from the game. Stacy Trenholm would work a walk to load the bases on reliever McKenzie Tyler, and Katlyn Gleich, who led off the inning, would clear the bases, singling to left; Crooks would misplay the grounder to left, allowing Brown, Koch and Trenholm to come around. Cassie Adkins would make a great catch behind the plate to end the inning, but SSU would take a 9-3 lead into the bottom of the second.
Shawnee State would hold Kentucky Christian scoreless in the bottom of the second, and rally again in the top of the third. Riley would lead off by hitting a blooper into no-man's land down the left field line for a double. Shupert-Martin then bunted right in front of home plate, reaching first on a bunt single and moving Riley to third. Shupert-Martin would take second on defensive indifference during Cunningham's at-bat, and Cunningham would score Riley on a groundout to second, with Shupert-Martin taking third. Saunders would hit a grounder to the pitcher Tyler, who would come home with the throw that would be too late to get Shupert-Martin. SSU would take their 11-3 lead to the bottom of the third after Saunders was stranded at second. SSU's defense then stranded runners at second and third in the bottom half of the third to hold the 11-3 lead into the fourth.
Kentucky Christian would strike back with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Spurlock would record her third extra base hit of the game, hitting a solo home run down the left field line. Shawnee State would limit the damage to one run, holding an 11-4 lead going to the fifth.
Shawnee State would rally to take back their eight-run lead in the top of the fifth. Shupert-Martin would lead off by smashing a ball into the left-center field gap, narrowly avoiding the glove of a diving Spurlock and rolling to the fence for a triple. Cunningham would then single to left to bring home Shupert-Martin. Saunders would then get a bunt single to move Cunningham to second; however, Cunningham would get caught off of second base and have to advance to third, where she would be thrown out. After a Marisa Brown pop-up, Koch would single to left to put two on with two outs. Trenholm would walk to load the bases, but Gleich would ground out to short to end the inning with Shawnee State leading 12-4.
Kentucky Christian would threaten in the bottom of the fifth. Adkins would lead off with a walk and be replaced by pinch runner Zoe Deaton. Crooks then singled through shortstop to put two on with nobody out. McKenzie Whittaker (JR/McDermott, Ohio) would strike out House, but McKay would re-enter and hit a single up the middle to load the bases with one out. Fisher would then hit a ground ball to Saunders, who would tag McKay out and throw to Koch for the game-ending double play.
McKenzie Whittaker got the win for Shawnee State, allowing four runs on 10 hits in five innings. Whitney McKay took the loss, allowing eight runs on seven hits in one and two-thirds innings.
The split moves Shawnee State to 22-16 on the season, and to 9-11 in the Mid-South Conference. Kentucky Christian is now 9-24 overall and 4-12 in the league after the split. The two teams split the season series 2-2.
Shawnee State softball returns to action on Friday, April 20 for a doubleheader at Campbellsville. First pitch is set for 3:00pm.
