HIRAM, Ohio - April 18, 2023 - Hiram and Westminster both put on a pitching clinic on Wednesday afternoon at Herndon Field; the Terriers walked it off and won Game 1, 3-2, before falling in 11 innings in Game 2, 2-1.
Hiram rattled off 3 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game – including a squeeze bunt by Giselle Bahena to score Larissa Baeza from third base – to secure a third straight victory.
Darian Kanno highlighted Game 2 by tying a career-high with 10 strikeouts, making her the 2nd pitcher in Hiram program history to have multiple career games with double-digit strikeouts (Makenzie Dombrowski). Abriana Schwartz would rip a game-tying double in the 10th inning before Westminster responded with the go-ahead run in the 11th.
The Terriers will next play at DePauw for a conference doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m.
Game 1 Recap
Hiram trailed 2-0 through the first three innings, but hung in the game thanks to the relief effort by Jeskari Rodriguez. The senior settled in and finished with her longest outing of the season: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 K.
A key turning point in the game came in the seventh inning, when the Titans' leadoff hitter reached on a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Trinity Meza took over for Rodriguez and retired the final 2 hitters to strand the runner in scoring position.
The Terriers rode that momentum to the finish line, with Megan Moser (hit by pitch), Schwartz (single), Baeza (single) and Danielle Robles (two-run double) stringing together a one-out rally to even the score, 2-2. For Robles, the game-tying hit came on a hard-hit ground ball that bounced over the head of the infielder.
Bahena did the rest of the work, placing a squeeze bunt between the pitcher and catcher far enough to where the speedy Baeza could score from third base. Baeza slid in safely in plenty of time to give Hiram its 16th win of the year.
Game 2 Recap
There was a similar, back-and-forth pace to Game 2 between the two teams, with both having opportunities to score but each pitching staff executing in the critical moments. Neither team scored in the first 9 innings, with Elizabeth Malczak throwing 9 scoreless frames and Angel Santellan (3 IP), Kanno (4 IP) and Meza (2 IP) doing the same.
It set the stage for a dramatic finish, with the 10th inning rule allowing for each team to have a runner at second base to start each inning moving forward in the game. Westminster scored a run on a wild pitch in the 10th before Schwartz leveled the score at 1-1 with a double to the left-center field gap. Santellan, who started the inning as the runner on second base, scored on the play.
The Titans were able to pull off the victory in the 11th inning, with an opposite-field single to right field bringing in the go-ahead run. In the home half of the inning, Fayth Kawamura lifted a fly ball to the deepest part of the field in center field, but an over-the-shoulder catch brought the marathon game to an end.
