The bats of Sam Catron and Madison Stoner helped ensure that the Hillsdale College softball team wouldn't leave a hard-fought home doubleheader with Malone empty-handed on Monday.
Catron hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game to give the Chargers a walk-off 5-3 victory to start the day. Hillsdale almost repeated the feat in the nightcap, loading the bases in the final inning, but couldn't find the hit it needed in a 9-7 loss to the Pioneers.
Stoner got the Chargers on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at one apiece. Malone answered back with two home runs in the top of the third to take a 3-1 lead, but Hillsdale got a run back in the bottom of the third inning and Elaine Townley tied the game with a RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
In the bottom of the seventh, Stoner set the table again, with a single to left field that got her to first ahead of Catron's walk-off home run. The home run was Catron's 10th of the season, the most in the G-MAC to date, and tied for the third-most in a single season in Charger history with double-digit games remaining. It also moves Catron into a tie for second-place in career home runs at Hillsdale, with 19, match Taylor Schulty's mark from 2010-13.
Catron was 3 for 4 at the plate with two doubles as well as the home run for the Chargers, and Stoner chipped in two hits as well.
Dana Weidinger pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts, one walk and three earned runs, picking up her 13th win of the season. That victory pushes Weidinger into a tie for fourth place all-time in career wins in Charger history as well, with Doreen Wiedemann, who won 45 games from 1991 to 1993. Her seven strikeouts also move her into third all-time in career strikeouts at Hillsdale with 324.
In the nightcap, the Chargers jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first inning, led by a two-run home run by Stoner, her sixth of the season, and a RBI single by Emma Johnson.
After a five run second inning by the Pioneers, Townley gave the Chargers the lead back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run double that scored Catron and Renee Bielawa.
Malone seized the lead for good with three runs in the top of the fourth to take an 8-6 edge, and Bailey Byers added an insurance run for the Pioneers with a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning.
Johnson countered with a solo shot of her own in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit back to two runs, 9-7, and the Chargers had chances in the bottom of the seventh inning, loading the bases with one out. But another walk-off win didn't materialize as the Pioneers got out of the jam to force the split.
Along with the solo home run, Johnson went 3 for 4 to lead the Chargers at the plate in game two. Townley chipped in two doubles and Stoner added a double and a home run as well.
Julia Sayles took the loss on the mound for the Chargers, pitching four innings of relief and conceding two earned runs and five hits. Camryn Olson was the starter and went three innings, striking out three and walking three.
Now 20-12 overall and 8-2 in the G-MAC after Monday's doubleheader, the Chargers remain in second place, two games behind conference leader Trevecca Nazarene, heading into a weekend trip to Nashville, Tennessee to play the Trojans next with an opportunity to close the gap in one doubleheader.
Photo by Summer Fields