JACKSON, Miss. – The Millsaps softball team split today's double header with the Trinity University Tigers.
Both teams got a single run in the second inning of game one. Kaleigh Kinlaw led off the Tiger half of the inning with a single to right. A sac bunt and a grounder to third moved her up to third base with two outs before Lindsay Weyand drove her in to give Trinity the early 1-0 lead.
The Majors (12-18, 7-3 SCAC) got the tying run in the bottom of the inning. Sam Wursteisen led off with a walk from Colbie Devost. She advanced to third after Amanda Berry got Devost to overthrow the first baseman. The Tiger hurler finally caught a break, getting Allyson Christian and Jade Hewitt to fly out in foul territory. Wursteisen pulled off some heads-up base running on Hewitt's long fly to the corner and tagged up after the catch to take home and pull the Majors even, 1-1.
Both pitchers settled in and put up zeros in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Molly Tyner held firm in the seventh as well, bringing her team up to bat with the score still tied at one. Millsaps took game one of the series 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning off a single from Emily Spicer that scored Allyson Christian from third.
Molly Tyner (6-3) got the win for the Majors, going the full seven innings allowing five hits. She struck out three in 28 batters faced. Colbie Devost got the loss in six-and-two-thirds, allowing three hits and striking out seven in 30 batters faced.
Trinity jumped out in game two, scoring two runs in the third to take the early lead. The Majors answered in the fourth with three runs of their own to take the one-run advantage. Caroline Thompson, Megan Yglesias, and Emily Spicer all scored in the inning thanks to Trinity's Sydney Friday giving up her first four hits of the game in the inning.
The Tigers tied the game in the fifth inning after Ana Garcia reached in the lead-off spot thanks to a Majors' error. She scored after Karen MacPherson drove her in from third with a single to second.
Neither team could break the stalemate into the tenth inning when the international tiebreaker was applied, where each team began the inning with a runner on second base. A single from Rachel Garret put runners at the corners with no outs. Then the Majors' committed a costly fielding error that allowed MacPherson to score from first after a routine single to right that got past Allison Tarbox. All three runners crossed the plate to put Trinity on top 7-3 with nobody out in the inning.
The Tigers got one more in the inning before Lindsay Drane could get the Majors off the field. Jade Hewitt took her place on second to start the bottom of the tenth and Caroline Thompson put her on third with a single up the middle. With runners at the corners, Megan Yglesias came to the plate and crushed one over the left field fence to pull Millsaps to within one out, but the homer seemed to kill the rally as the next three Majors grounded out to end the game one run shy of extending play further.
Lindsay Drane took the loss in game two after going the distance in the ten inning marathon. She allowed 10 hits in 43 batters faced. Sydney Friday got the win for Trinity, also going the full ten innings, allowing nine hits while striking out seven and walking two in 41 batters faced.
The Majors will host the Tigers for two more starting tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. at Millsaps Field. The double header will be the final home games for the Majors this season.
