GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University softball split its Senior Day on Saturday (Apr. 18) with Emory & Henry. Prior to the twinbill, the Pioneers honored Kylie Darrow, Dani Beckham, MacKenzy Angle, and Ellie Alvarez.
Tusculum (20-26, 6-14 SAC) plays its final non-conference billing of the season at Lander on Tuesday (Apr. 21). First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Game 1: Tusculum 3, Emory & Henry 1
The Pioneers scored three unanswered runs over the Wasps to start Senior Day in winning fashion.
Emory & Henry got on the board first as the opening three batters reached on a hit by pitch, walk, and a single. A RBI groundout scored the lone run.
Chelsey Stonesifer and the Pioneer defense went into lockdown, retiring nine-straight batters and 15 of the next 16.
Stonesifer led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk, with Lily Kate Cariaco pinch running. Ava Hallows laid down a sacrifice bunt. Kylie Darrow drove the first pitch of her at bat back up the middle to score Cariaco and advanced to second on the throw to the plate. Andrea Davis ran for Darrow, advancing to third on Addison Hoffner's groundout and scoring on a throw that went wide back to third.
TU tacked on an insurance run in the fifth with a little league home run. Muriel Dillow led off the inning with a triple to right, coming in to score on a bad throw trying to cut her down at third.
After the first inning, no Wasp reached third.
Stonesifer (17-7) went the distance yet again, relenting just one run on two hits with three walks and seven strikeouts on 125 pitches.
Game 2: Emory & Henry 7, Tusculum 1
The Wasps used a big first inning and 13 hits in the contest to salvage a Saturday split.
Emory & Henry plated four in the opening frame, driven in on a two RBI double, followed by a two-run homer to straight-away center.
The Wasps went up 6-0 after back-to-back base hits with a runner on in the third.
The final blow was a bases-loaded walk in the fifth to go up 7-0.
TU's lone run came in the bottom half of the fifth with another little league home run. Abby Hunter doubled down the third base line and an errant throw allowed her to come around and score.
Dani Beckham (1-6) bookended the nightcap. She tossed the first two frames before re-entering for the final 2.2 innings. She allowed four runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. Aleyia Satterfield pitched the middle 2.1 innings, relenting three runs on five hits with three walks.
