HART – Plenty of offense was on display Thursday, April 17 when Hart softball hosted Montague for a cross-conference doubleheader. Both games came down to the wire, with the Pirates and Wildcats each claiming a victory.
The first action of the night was a high-scoring 16-15 win for Montague, though Hart had a chance to steal it out from under their opponent in the final inning.
A cold start for ace pitcher Reese Smith and Hart’s infield brought good tidings for the Wildcats in the first inning. The top of Montague’s batting order loaded the bases with a pair of lead-off walks and an error by shortstop Cali Eisenlohr. One fielder’s choice and a single later, Montague led 3-0. That advantage increased to 4-0 before Smith was able to earn back-to-back strikeouts to stop the bleeding.
Hart quickly jumped back into the game when it got its chance on offense. An error for Montague’s third basemen allowed Mackenna Carrier to get on base, before she moved into scoring position thanks to a Caydence Bateson single. Smith drove in a run on a single of her own, and two more runs for the Pirates ended the opening frame with a 4-3 lead for Montague.
The defense for Hart settled in after that point, sitting down Montague’s batters in order in the second inning. That opened the door for the Pirates to snag their first lead of the night. Expectations of that becoming a reality fell flat for Hart in the bottom of the second inning, after Kora Hiddema and Emma Thomas were sent packing on strikes.
An unforeseen two-out rally however, saw Hart notch five consecutive base hits – scoring five runs in the process. By the time Eisenlohr struck out for the third and final out of the inning, the Pirates had claimed an 8-4 lead.
Montague spent the majority of the third and fourth innings trailing, but its defense did a good job at stopping the Pirates’ offense. The Wildcats scored two runs in the third and an additional three in the fourth inning, once again jumping in front with a one-run lead. That didn’t last long, as Hart showed resilience, knotting the game up heading into the fifth inning.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Wildcats opened the floodgates on offense. Six base hits, a walk and a fielding error by Smith spelled an exorbitant amount of runs for Montague. Six runs crossed the plate in that half inning, pushing the game nearly out of reach with only two chances for the Pirates’ bats to gain control.
Once again, Hart defied the odds. In the bottom of the sixth, another two-out rally saw patient at-bats become fruitful. First Maryn Klotz earned a walk and then was promptly brought across home on a single from Hiddema. Thomas added her own single before Carrier and Bateson reached base on walks. One final fielding error for Montague pushed a run in, leaving the score at 15-13 in favor of Montague with one inning remaining.
Hart’s defense held Montague to just a single run in the top of the seventh, leaving the deficit at three runs.
With a chance to walk it off in the final half inning, Leah Walker wasted no time getting things going. Walker smashed a double over the head of the left fielder, scoring two batters later on a Wildcat error. Sitting with two outs and two runs needed to tie, Eisenlohr scored on a passed ball.
Unfortunately, the Pirates were unable to find one last two-out rally to get them over the hump, leaving them with an 0-1 record to start the evening.
Smith was given the loss in the pitcher’s circle, throwing a complete game with 11 earned runs on 10 hits and five strikeouts. Thomas and Walker led the offense with three hits each, while Carrier, Bateson and Smith all had two. Klotz led in runs batted in (RBI) with three.
The second game of the night lasted just five innings, but echoed the intensity of game one. This time, Hart completed the comeback with a 12-11 victory.
With Kelsey Copenhaver pitching, Montague jumped out to another 4-0 lead in the opening first half inning. An extreme sense of déjà vu set in for the Pirates, as they worked their way out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts.
The bats were not quite as quick to get going for Hart, unfortunately. The Pirates failed to record a single hit until the bottom of the third inning. That resulted in a 6-2 deficit when Carrier finally worked a single onto the board. That propelled Hart for an additional two runs in that frame, leaving the score at 6-4 for the Wildcats.
Another influx of runs for Montague increased the ‘Cats lead to 11-4 in the fourth inning. Once again, Hart clawed back, notching back-to-back singles from Carrier and Bateson, followed by a double for Copenhaver and a single for Smith. By the end of the fourth inning, Hart had cut the deficit to three runs.
Once more, Hart’s defense held Montague scoreless in the top half of the final inning. This time, the Pirates’ offense did enough to seal the game in their favor.
It started with Klotz being hit by a pitch to get a runner on base. Then, an Eisenlohr single, a stolen base for Klotz and a Montague fielding error brought two runs across. Carrier notched a single to tie things up at 11, leaving Thomas on third and waiting for a chance to end the game.
Copenhaver delivered that chance, smoking a line drive to center field and ending the nightcap with a walkoff.
