ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Macalester College softball team bounced back after a 10-4 loss to UW-Eau Claire with an 8-1 victory over Ripon College in a pair of games at the Rochester Dome on Sunday. The results give the Scots a 5-3 record on the season.
Against UW-Eau Claire, Macalester scored four runs with two outs in the bottom of the second to lead early, 4-0. Sophomore
Claire McHenry (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Academy) hit a bases-loaded, two-run double, then junior
Kennedy Kechely (Rochester, Minn./Mayo) followed with a two-run single. The Scots were unable to score after the second inning, putting runners in scoring position in just two of the remaining five innings. The Blugolds responded by tallying five runs in the third, two in the fourth and another in the fifth for a commanding 8-4 lead. Two more runs in the seventh made the final score 10-4.
Sophomore
Mackenzie Clarke (Redwood City, Calif./Sequoia) went 4-for-4 with a double and a run, while Kechely and first year
Regan Brodine (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) each had two hits. Junior
Audrey Meade (Cedar Hills, Utah/Pleasant Grove) pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief of first year starter
Joia Simonson (Pardeeville, Wis./Portage), allowing five runs, three earned, on six hits. Meade saw her streak of 12 innings and 43 batters faced without allowing a hit come to an end.
The Scots got on the scoreboard early against Ripon, with senior
Kaeden Jackson (Seattle, Wash./James A. Garfield) hitting a double to score senior
Julia Carpenter (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore) in the top of the first inning. Clarke drove in Carpenter in both the third and fifth innings, while Meade plated Brodine in the fourth as Macalester built a 4-0 lead through five innings. The Scots broke the game open with four runs in the top of the sixth. Meade and McHenry scored on an error, Kechely doubled home Carpenter and later stole home after Clarke singled. Ripon tallied its only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth.
Carpenter went 2-for-4 and scored four runs, while Clarke and Jackson each had two hits. Simonson pitched four scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out three and walking one. Meade gave up a run on two hits in three innings of work.
Macalester heads to Florida for 10 games at THE Spring Games in Clermont, starting on Sunday, March 15.
