HIRAM, Ohio – May 6, 2024 – Hiram put on a pitching clinic on Monday afternoon at Myrtis E. Herndon Field, as Darian Kanno and Trinity Meza combined for 14 stellar innings in the circle as part of 2-1 and 5-1 victories over Muskingum.

The two wins put an exclamation point on a 23-win regular season, which includes a 10-4 record in conference games and only two home losses. It also gives the team the momentum it needed heading into the NCAC Tournament on Thursday.

Game 1

Darian Kanno continued her dominant run in the circle, allowing fewer than two earned runs for the 10^th time in her last 11 outings. Muskingum scored a run on an RBI single in the fourth inning, but the junior right-hander only allowed one hit outside of that inning and finished with a final line of 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 5 K.

The fast-paced rhythm of the game was broken up in the bottom of the third inning, when Hiram strung together five consecutive singles to take a 2-0 lead. Abriana Schwartz, Fayth Kawamura, Kanno, Angel Santellan (RBI single) and Kylie Perez (RBI single) were responsible for the damage.

Kanno retired the final 10 hitters she faced after allowing that RBI single in the fourth inning to put the game away and give the Terriers a 6-2 record in one-run games.

Game 2

Hiram gave itself a little more breathing room in Game 2, scoring three runs in the first two innings to take a 3-0 lead. Angel Santellan delivered an RBI single in the first before the team combined for three singles in the second, which included RBI knocks by Schwartz and Kawamura.

That was all the support Trinity Meza needed for a performance that Terriers have grown accustomed to seeing from the senior. Meza threw strikes, induced weak contact and effectively changed speeds throughout the day to finish with a winning line of 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.

The biggest hits of the day came in the fourth inning: Viviana Macias doubled and Schwartz did the same to grow the Hiram lead to four runs. Larissa Baeza added an RBI single in the sixth inning, while Kanno returned to the circle and earned her second save of the year to cap off the Game 2 win in the home finale.

What's Next

Hiram will open play in the NCAC Tournament on Thursday in Greencastle, IN; the team will first play Denison at 10 a.m. before playing either the winner or loser of the DePauw-Wittenberg game. The tournament is a double-elimination format, similar to the NCAA Regionals.