COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Trine University softball team swept both of their games on the first full day of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III Leadoff Classic. They opened the day with a 10-2 run-rule victory over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor before defeating the College of Saint Benedict 6-0 in the nightcap.
The day opened against the Crusaders with a grim start to the game. After a quick top half of the inning, Mary Hardin-Baylor scored the first two runs of the contest in their first at-bat.
In the top of the second, the Thunder responded in a big way. With runners at second and third, the team sent Michaela Doiron to the plate as a pinch hitter, and she came up with a bomb to centerfielder. The home run gave the team a 3-2 lead. Ellie Trine gave the team another run a few batters later with an RBI single, making the score 4-2.
Lauren Clausen settled down in the circle in the bottom half of the inning, setting down three straight to hold the score. Through the rest of the contest just three Crusaders reached base, as Clausen pitched a solid full game.
Both teams were quiet in the third, but the Thunder blew the game wide open in the fourth. Scarlett Elliott, Ellie Trine and Karley Trine each plated a run with a double to start the scoring. Then Debbie Hill recorded a two-run homer that built the lead to 9-2.
In the top of the fifth, Ainsley Phillips brought in the game winning run with a single that made the score 10-2. After Clausen finished the game in the circle in the bottom half, the team won in run-rule style.
The second game ultimately went down as a shutout for the Thunder, with Debbie Hill pitching a complete game while allowing just four baserunners on three hits and a hit-by-pitch. She added two strikeouts in the contest, including one in the top of the seventh to close out the win.
Offensively the Thunder were steady in the game, scoring in four of the seven innings. Macy Rocha and Emma Lee opened the scoring in the first each with an RBI. Then in the third Tyra Marcum brought home one run on a hit with Emma Beyer following up with a sacrifice bunt that earned her an RBI of her own.
Rocha brought in another run in a bottom of the fourth, becoming the only member of the team with multiple RBIs. Ellie Trine brought home the final run in the bottom of the fifth, making the score its final at 6-0.
Trine improves to 3-0 following the pair of wins. They will finish their stint at the Leadoff Classic tomorrow, Sunday, March 3. They are set to face Belhaven at 1:30 p.m. and Christopher Newport at 3:30 p.m.