GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University softball team home winning streak has ballooned to 10 games, including last year's title run, after defeating North Greenville on Wednesday (Feb. 16) afternoon.
Tusculum (8-2) hits the road for the first time in nearly two weeks to compete at the Raines Company Softball Classic, hosted by Francis Marion. The Pioneers will face Mercy and the home Patriots at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively, on Saturday (Feb. 19).
Game 1: Tusculum 9, North Greenville 2
Emily Sappington kept her perfect record (5-0) intact behind a season-high 13 hits by the offense, with 8-of-9 starters recording a hit. Mya Maddox was 2-for-2 with three runs scored and a pair of walks. Katelynn Hodges went 3-for-5 with two runs and two batted in. Both Anna Alloway and Kiley Longmire notched an extra base hit as well.
North Greenville got on the board first and within two batters. Sappington gave up a lead-off walk and it was followed up by a run-scoring double. The Crusaders were then shut out until the fifth.
Maddox drew a walk to begin the Pioneers' half of the first inning. Hodges singled and stole second to put both runners in scoring position. Chloe Freischmidt sent a shot right back up the middle to plate the two speedsters to retake the lead for good.
TU scored all five runs in the second before an out was recorded. Hannah Hughes, Longmire, and Maddox singled in successive at bats. Hodges made it four consecutive singles to bring in Hughes and Madison McGinnis, who pinch ran for Longmire. This forced a North Greenville pitching change. Alloway quickly cleared the bases with her 27th career home run, two shy of tying the program record.
Maddox was off to the races in the third to put the Pioneers up 8-1. She bunted for a single and stole second. An errant throw by the catcher went into center field as she popped up to sprint 60 more feet. The shortstop's throw to third was also misfired, allowing Maddox to score from first.
A pair of throwing errors by Tusculum allowed an unearned run to score in the fifth.
Sappington singled to left center and Makayla Bush entered to run. Hayley Lazo followed with her own single to the left side. Alyssa Suits was able to reach on a fielding error to load the bases for Longmire. She hit a sacrifice fly to left to plate Bush.
Sappington threw her fifth complete game in as many appearances, striking out eight. She relented one earned run, two walks, and scattered five hits across her 105 pitches.
Game 2: Tusculum 9, North Greenville 4
Maddox and Alloway were the lone Pioneers to record multiple hits in the nightcap, while Claire Smeltzer and Hughes are credited with three RBI apiece.
Tusculum scored six runs in the opening inning, forcing a NGU pitching change before it was over. Maddox singled through the left side and advanced to second on a fielding error by the outfielder. Hodges was plunked to put two on. An Alloway single to left scored Maddox and moved Hodges up 60 feet. Freischmidt grounded out but moved both runners into scoring position. Smeltzer also grounded out and both runners advanced, including scoring Hodges. Lazo beat out an infield single and Alloway scored TU's third run. Ashley Harbison knocked a one-bagger to put two on for Hughes. She sent a bomb over the left field fence for her second career home run.
Tusculum raked in three more runs in the following inning. Hodges reached on a fielding error to wind up at second base. Alloway singled up the middle to put runners at the corners, with McGinnis coming in to run. Freischmidt scored Hodges on a single to left. Smeltzer doubled in the runs to bring the score to 9-0.
A lead-off homer in the top of the fourth and a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning fought off the run-rule. A two-run shot in the seventh finalized the 9-4 TU win.
Ireland Cavanaugh (2-0) threw her first complete game as a Pioneer. She finished with a career-high six strikeouts, six hits, four runs, and two walks on 114 pitches.
