Elsah, ILL. -- The Principia College Softball team hosted the Crowley's Ridge Pioneers from Paragould, Arkansas Thursday for their first double header games of the season. The Panthers were excited to finally have a game after several weeks of practices and inter-squad competition only. Unfortunately, the team's excitement did not turn into wins for the Panthers as the Pioneers swept Principia 22-5 and 14-3.
Game 1
Principia 6, Crowley's Ridge 22
The Panthers didn't quite show up ready to play for today's home opener. First game jitters seemed to get the best of the team as the defense struggled to make routine plays and get outs.
Leah Schaefer was on the rubber for the Panthers, working the zone, drawing ground balls and pop flies. The Panther defense began to show up in the top of the 5
th with a three up, three down inning. However, the Crowley's Ridge Pioneers found the gaps in the field and were aggressive on the base path, drawing mental and physical errors out of the Panther defense.
Offensively, the Panthers got off to a slow start. With only 11 hits in the game, the Panthers were unable to challenge the Pioneer defense enough to keep the game close. The bats got going in the fifth inning when the Panthers scored all six of their runs.
Emily Hewitt,
Alyssa Hudenburg, and
Ashley Noville each had two hits. Hudenberg hit in three of the Panther's runs, while
Hannah Hathaway,
Leah Schaefer, and
Tanya Marquardt each hit in one.
Game 2
Principia 3, Crowley's Ridge 14
The Panthers had another slow defensive start, giving up 5 runs in the first inning. Mental and physical errors put the Panthers in an early hole that was tough to come back from.
Alyssa Hudenburg had her first collegiate start on the rubber for game two, working on pitching to contact and drawing ground balls and fly outs. The Panther defense showed glimpses of what they are capable of for a couple innings, but couldn't quite string enough outs together to stay in the game.
The Panther offense came out ready to hit the ball hard with
Emily Hewitt,
Alyssa Hudenburg, and
Hannah Hathaway each hitting their first triple of the season. Despite the better looking offense, several hard hit balls went right at Pioneer defense and didn't produce more than three runs. The Panthers look forward to traveling to Southern California next week to play in two more double headers against University of Saint Katherine.
