ELON, N.C. – The Elon University softball team opened its second home tournament, the Phoenix Invitational, with a pair of wins on Friday, Feb. 14 as the maroon and gold defeated Morgan State 2-1 in extras before closing out the day with a 10-1 victory over Penn at Hunt Softball Park.
Elon improved to 3-4 on the season with the twin bill sweep.
Elon 2, Morgan State 1 (8)
Elon had a chance to add some runs to the scoreboard after loading the bases with one in the top of the first. Greta Hessenthaler reached on a leadoff error and advanced to second on a groundout. She would be joined on the base paths by Chloe Hatzopoulos and Kaitlyn Wells after the pair drew free passes, but the next two Phoenix batters struck out to leave the bags full.
The pitcher’s duel between Elon’s McKenna McCard and Morgan State’s Victoria Fletcher continued until both teams went into extras. With the international tiebreaker rules implemented, the Bears scored the first run of the game in the top of the eighth after a couple of bunts to take a 1-0 lead.
Elon responded in its half of the eighth. A sac bunt moved Hessenthaler, who was placed on second to start the frame, to third before she scored on an RBI single by Hatzopoulos. The game was in danger of continuing into another extra frame after Morgan State induced the second out on a popup before Gabi Schaal came up to the plate. The fifth-year took the first pitch she saw and sent it down the left field line to move Hatzopoulos, who was racing to third. The left fielder mishandled the ball, allowing Hatzopoulos to score the winning run for the Phoenix.
McCard pitched the full game to improve to 1-1 on the season. The senior allowed one hit and struck out four batters.
Five different players recorded a hit for the Phoenix with Schaal getting the lone extra-base knock with her RBI double.
Elon 10, Penn 1 (5)
The Phoenix got off to a faster start in its second game of the game, plating three runs in the opening inning versus Penn. Allee Seering had a two-run homer to add the first runs to the board for Elon followed by Teagan Baulsir driving in one more off a sac fly to give the Phoenix a 3-0 advantage.
Elon matched its run total in the bottom of the second with Seering driving in two more runs on a one-out single up the middle. After a couple of errors advanced Seering to third on the play, she would cross the dish after Schaal grounded out to the shortstop to double Elon’s lead, 6-0.
Penn tallied its lone run of the game in the top of the fourth, but Elon answered with a four-run bottom of the frame. Hessenthaler tripled to right field, scoring Reagan Hartley who had reached earlier on a single. A sac fly to left by Seering scored Hessenthaler before back-to-back solo homers from Hatzopoulos and Kaitlyn Wells pushed the Phoenix’s lead to 10-1.
Despite allowing a couple of runners on in the top of the fifth due to a fielding error, Elon was able to finagle its way out of the inning to close out the first day with the sweep.
Elon had 12 hits offensively with Seering, Kaitlyn Wells and Hartley going 2-of-2 at the plate. Seering drove in three RBI while adding her second home run of the year along with Hatzopoulos and Wells.
Isley Duggins earned the complete-game win after allowing just one hit in the circle. She improved to 1-0 on the season.
On Deck
The second and final day of the Phoenix Invitational begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. as Elon will face Penn and Morgan State in a pair of rematches. Both games will stream on FloCollege (FloSoftball).
— ELON —
