MEADVILLE, Pa. – April 17, 2021 – Hiram softball won two games at Allegheny on Saturday afternoon winning game one, 9-0 and winning game two, 8-5. The Terriers now have won ten games in a row and have clinched a berth in the NCAC Championship.
GAME 1: Hiram put together a balanced scoring attack in game one.
Kaitlyn Hager hit an RBI single scoring
Abriana Schwartz in the first inning.
Hager would quickly follow that up with another hit, this time an RBI double, scoring Schwartz again in the third frame.
Giselle Bahena hit an RBI sacrifice fly bringing in Hager as the Terriers led 3-0 after three innings.
Hiram put together two solo home runs in the fifth and sixth innings off the bats of Schwartz and
Angel Santellan.
Melissa Galindo also hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning scoring
Giselle Chavez. Finishing off the scoring in the sixth was Schwartz hitting an RBI single with
Avery Balurdi scoring.
Mariah Sheffield knocked her third home run of the season in the seventh inning with a two run shot. The long ball brought in Bahena, helping the Terriers to a 9-0 victory.
Starting pitcher
Jeskari Rodriguez allowed just four baserunners in game one allowing one hit and three walks. The sophomore had six strikeouts which helped her get to a team high eighth win of the season.
Tori Vradenbur (0-5) took the loss for Allegheny.
Schwartz was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in game one scoring three runs with two RBI. Hager and Santellan had two hits with Hager having two RBI. With her home run shot, Sheffield also picked up two RBI.
With the win the Terriers have now had a shutout in three of the last six games.
GAME 2: The Terriers again brought in runs in the first inning in game number two. Sheffield hit an RBI double scoring Schwartz. Santellan then hit an RBI single which plated Bahena making the Hiram lead 2-0 after one inning. Schwartz hit her second home run of the day in the second inning extending the lead to 3-0 on a solo shot.
Allegheny got a run back in the bottom half of the second, but the road side answered quickly.
Leah Valdez hit an RBI sacrifice fly scoring Bahena in the third.
Schwartz continued her hot day at the plate with an RBI single scoring Galindo.
The Gators clawed back into the ballgame in the fourth inning with a three run inning making it a 6-4 contest.
In the fifth frame Hiram would add some insurance runs. Santellan hit an RBI double scoring Sheffield and would come around to score after
Leah Valdez reached on a throwing error.
Allegheny would add one run in the seventh inning, but wouldn't do any further damage leading to an 8-5 Hiram victory.
Schwartz capped off her 7-for-7 day going 3-for-3 in game two with two runs and two RBI. Bahena went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Sheffield and Santellan each had multi-hit games as Sheffield went a perfect 3-for-3 and Santellan went 2-for-4.
Hager and Santellan pitched in the circle for Hiram. As a duo the two struck out four batters allowing four runs.
The ten game winning streak ties the second longest winning streak in program history. Over the last eight games the team has allowed just 11 runs.
The team will next play on Tuesday, April 20 with a road doubleheader at Oberlin beginning at 3:30 p.m.
