MARS HILL, N. C. - - Cavalier softball suffered a pair of losses Thursday afternoon on the road against Mars Hill University. UVa-Wise was shutout in the first game of the day, 21-0, before falling in game two to the Lions, 4-3.
Mars Hill (9-5) jumped ahead on a four-run first inning to open game one. The Lions led off with a single to center field before scoring on an RBI single. A Mars Hill double followed by a single up the middle scored two more followed by a one-out RBI single to center field to score their final run of the inning.
The Cavs (5-4) recorded one hit in the home half of the inning on a double to left field off the bat of Alexis Miles but would leave the sophomore stranded to go into the top of the second trailing the Lions, 4-0.
The Lions posted seven more runs in the second started off by another leadoff single. An RBI double put one more across for Mars Hill as the Lions plated three more on a homer to center field. An error, single, and groundout gave the Lions their final three runs of the inning to take an 11-0 lead.
Mars Hill scored 10 more runs across the last three frames of game one as the Lions went on to win 21-0.
The Lions Casey Stanek (5-2) earned the win allowing just one hit with seven strike outs in a complete game effort as the team finished with 23 hits scoring at least three runs in each inning.
Junior Raychel Lapallo (1-3) suffered the loss for the Cavs scattering nine hits across 1 1/3 innings.
UVa-Wise (5-5) opened up the scoring in game two with a Kailyn Spencer blast to left field for her third homerun of the season. Senior Shannon Bennett followed with a one-out double to right field but back-to-back strikeouts left the runner stranded as the Cavs held a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the inning.
The Lions (10-5) responded with a homer to center field to knot the game at 1-1. A single followed by a fielder's choice put Mars Hill in position to score but two more outs left two on base to end the inning.
Each team pushed one more run across in the fourth frame to tie the game at 2-2. Sophomore Kaylee Jones registered her second home run of the season on a shot to left field. Mars Hill opened the home half of the fourth with a leadoff single to third with the runner later scoring on an RBI single up the middle.
UVa-Wise recorded one hit in the fifth on a single up the middle off the bat of Casey Chambers but a double play and strike out left the score at 2-2 into the bottom of the frame.
Mars Hill drove home its third run in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out homer to center field to gain a 3-2 advantage.
Spencer's third double of the season put the Cavs in position to score in the top of the sixth as Melissa Bartley entered the ball game as a pinch runner. With two outs, Smith walked onto first before Madison David doubled down the left field line to score Bartley, but UVa-Wise left two on base into the bottom of the inning.
A leadoff homer off the bat of the Lions' Harris in the bottom of the sixth frame gave Mars Hill a 4-3 lead and proved to be all the Lions needed to put away the win as the Cavs were unable to score in the final inning of the game.
Spencer and Bennett each went 2-for-3 at the plate while Chambers, Jones, and David all recorded one hit in the game. UVa-Wise posted nine hits with no errors in the loss.
Inside the circle for the Cavs, Spencer fell to 3-2 on the season, scattering nine with four strikeouts in six innings.
Mars Hill's Stanek improved to 6-2 with the win as she gave up just two hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Softball is back on the road tomorrow for the Pioneer Classic with the Cavs taking on the University of New Haven in a doubleheader scheduled for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in Greeneville, Tenn.
