Lexington, Kentucky – On Friday May 10
th, the Mount St. Joseph Softball program was in win or go home mode as they looked to advance in the HCAC tournament to keep their season alive. In game one of the Afternoon, they would take on the Manchester Spartans defeating them 3-2 after jumping on the board early. In game two, the Lions would take on the Earlham Quakers in a rematch from round one. The Lions once again struck first and never looked back as the dominate pitching from
Casey Kemp carried the Lions to a 9-1 victory.
Game One: Manchester 2 – MSJ 3
In the first, leadoff batter
Macy Cornelius continued her hot play reaching base on a single and advancing to third after a sac bunt and a wild pitch. Following a walk to put runners on the corner,
Lauryn Miller would be able to single back right back up the middle scoring the first run of the ball game. With Manchester going down in order in the top half of the second inning, the Mount would tac on another run in the bottom half of the second.
Casey Kemp led off the inning just like the first with a single to right then would be pinch ran for by
Amanda Logeais. With Logeais standing at third, Cornelius delivered once again with a single to right field for the RBI giving the Lions a 2-0 lead.
Two out magic would strike again for the Mount in the 4
th inning as
Maddie Kennedy would be scored from second base by
Alayna Flynn's double to right center field. Mount St. Joseph led the ballgame from there on out as
Casey Kemp would hold off a 7
th inning rally from the Spartans to give the Lions a 3-2 victory to advance in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Tournament.
Game Two: Earlham 1 – MSJ 9
In the second game of the afternoon for the Lions, the hot starts continued. In the first after Earlham took a 1-0 lead,
Macy Cornelius would reach on a walk then steal second base to move into scoring position. As
Emily McDonald tried to move Cornelius to third, the pitcher would throw the ball away allowing Macy to score and McDonald to take her place at second base with no outs in a 1-1 ballgame. For the second batter in a row,
Sydney Hughbanks would reach on a throwing error from the pitcher allowing the Mount to bring in another run. Following a single from Miller,
Kaci Finchum would fly out to right field for a sacrifice fly giving the Mount a 3-1 lead. The Final run in the first would be an RBI groundout from
Maddie Kennedy.
In the third, three more runs would come across to score to give the Mount a commanding 7-1 lead. The Bases would quickly be loaded with one out off of a Single from Miller, an error and a walk.
Casey Kemp would help herself in the circle with an RBI single then quickly
Avery Wiltermood walked in a second run of the inning. Still with bases loaded,
Kelsi Stevenson pinch hit and delivered an RBI sacrifice fly.
The final two runs for the Lions came in the 4
th and 5
th innings of play. In the 4
th,
Kaci Finchum drove the 8
th run on another Lions sacrifice fly and then in the 5
th,
Courtney Keller single to start the inning and then quickly find her way to the plate scoring on a throwing error during a sac bunt from Wiltermood.
In the circle Senior Pitcher
Casey Kemp was outstanding going a combined 11 innings, allowed 8 hits and stuck out a pair while giving up an impressive 2 earned runs.
The Lions will be back in action tomorrow as they look to continue their HCAC tournament run. They are currently scheduled to take on the Franklin Grizzles at 12:30 pm. If they Lions earn a victory in the ballgame, they will take on the Transylvania Pioneers while needing to defeat them twice to be crowned HCAC Champions.
