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HU women sweep Indiana Tech

Lairen Miller, a sophomore on the Huntington University softball team, winds up for a pitch in the first of two games against visiting Indiana Tech on Thursday, March 22. The Foresters swept the Warriors, 4-3, 8-5.
Lairen Miller, a sophomore on the Huntington University softball team, winds up for a pitch in the first of two games against visiting Indiana Tech on Thursday, March 22. The Foresters swept the Warriors, 4-3, 8-5. Photo by Steve Clark.

The Huntington University softball team swept visiting Indiana Tech, winning 4-3 and 8-5, on Thursday, March 22.

The opening game went nine innings. With the contest knotted up at 2-2 after regulation, Indiana Tech broke the stalemate with a solo tally in the top of the eighth inning. Huntington countered in its half of the frame, with Meghan Fretz smacking a double that plated fellow freshman Sophia Beachy, who started the frame on second base, in accordance with extra-inning rules. After the Foresters’ starting pitcher, Lairen Miller, worked three quick outs in the ninth, Huntington proceeded to load the bases in the bottom of the frame. Sophomore Joelle Beals seized the moment, hitting a one-out sacrifice fly to give Huntington the win.

Fretz led the Forester offense, finishing with two doubles and three runs batted in. Freshman Paige Eichelberger chipped in two hits to the team’s cause.

Miller earned the win for Huntington, yielding eight hits and two earned runs in her nine innings of work. The hurler, 4-1, struck out three and issued no walks.

Miller’s pair of earned runs came in the fourth inning, with Tech’s Emily Martin and Marta Pasqualini each whacking a solo home run. The Foresters responded with two runs of their own in the sixth to deadlock the contest.

Amanda Shonka took the loss for the Warriors, allowing eight hits and two earned runs in 8.2 frames. She fanned five and walked one.

Huntington, 8-6, had an easier go of it in the second game, building a 4-0 lead through the tilt’s first two innings. After the teams traded solo tallies in the third, Tech scored twice in the fourth to make it 5-3, but Huntington countered with three runs in the bottom of the frame to go up by five. The Warriors managed to plate two runners in the seventh before the Foresters brought the game to a close.

Fretz went the distance in the circle for Huntington, limiting Tech to five hits and as many runs, with only two earned. The hurler, 4-1, recorded two strikeouts and issued six walks.

Eichelberger paced the Forester offense, producing three hits and an RBI while scoring two runs. Sophomore Abby Keaffaber added two doubles and RBI for Huntington, which finished with 11 hits for the game.

Kirsten Wolf took the loss for the Warriors, who slide to 1-21. Wolf surrendered nine hits and five runs, two earned, in the game’s first 4.1 innings.

Bailey Dembinski led Tech at the plate with a hit and two RBI.