Game 1 box score: Hillsdale 11, Davis & Elkins 0 (5 inn.)
Game 2 box score: Davis& Elkins 4, Hillsdale 3
There was elation and frustration for the Hillsdale College softball team in West Virginia Tuesday afternoon.
Hillsdale split a Great Midwest Athletic Conference doubleheader with Davis & Elkins College, winning 11-0 and losing 4-3. That leaves Hillsdale's record at 16-21 overall and 10-6 in conference play.
Game one provided the elation of the day. Hillsdale set a team season-high with three home runs, coming off the bats of Madison Stoner, Victoria Addis and Sam Catron.
After a scoreless first two innings, the fireworks started in the third inning. Seniors Katie Kish and Amanda Marra got it started, as usual, helping to produce the team's first two runs. Catron then launched her fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot, that made it a 5-0 margin.
Addis then blasted a two-run home run one inning later to increase the lead to 7-0. That hit was a big part of a great day for Addis, who went 2-for-two with three runs scored and three runs batted in.
Stoner added a solo home run as part of a four-run fifth that ended up triggering the NCAA's run rule. Catron was 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and a run scored. Kish went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two batted in.
Junior pitcher Dana Weidinger recorded the complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits with three strikeouts. It was her best outing of the conference season.
Game two contained the frustration.
Hillsdale's bats were quieted in the nightcap, generating just four total hits. But they came alive at a key time as it built a seventh-inning rally.
Freshman Anna Dixon doubled to center, scoring Carlin MacDonald-Gannon, who was pinch-running for senior Jessica Taylor, who opened the frame with a double. Sophomore Emma Johnson then reached on an error that scored Dixon, tying the game at 3-3 in the top of the seventh inning.
The Senators pulled out the win by loading the bases then scoring on a fielding error in the bottom of the seventh.
Johnson led the offense with 2 RBI and Dixon scored twice. Taylor doubled as part of a 2-for-3 day in game two.
PHOTO: Todd Lancaster