COLUMBUS, Ga. – The #1 seed Trinity University softball team earned a 7-4 win over #4 seed Berry College (GA) at the Southern Athletic Association Tournament on Thursday evening.
The Tigers (29-9-1) won for the third time in four meetings with the Vikings (26-13) this season. Berry struck first with a run in the first inning, but Trinity took command of the game with four runs in the second. The Tigers led 5-1 in the fourth when Berry cut the lead in half with a pair of runs, but Trinity snagged a pair of insurance runs in the sixth and pulled off the win to finish off the first day of tournament play.
Five different Trinity players drove in runs in the game and the top three hitters in the lineup had two hits each to lead the team.
Hannah Boudreaux (Pearland, Texas / Shadow Creek) went 2-for-4 and drove in a run,
Angela Baltzell (Antioch, Calif. / Freedom) was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, and
Carsyn Lee (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) was 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Megan Kriechbaum (Cedar Hills, Utah / Pleasant Grove) earned the win and improved to 12-4 this season, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out two batters.
Josephine Koelewyn (Reno, Nev. / Academy of Arts Careers and Technology) pitched 2.2 innings, yielding a run on four hits.
The Rundown
Kriechbaum got into early trouble against the Berry hitters, allowing three straight singles to start the game. After a fielder's choice and a play at the plate kept the game scoreless at the time, Berry drew a bases-loaded walk to score the game's first run. Kriechbaum got her first strikeout of the day after that and got out of the inning with no more damage done. Boudreaux singled to start the day for Trinity's offense, but she was stranded at second and Berry remained in front.
Koelewyn walked to open the second inning and this time the Tigers took advantage of the leadoff runner.
Hayden Del Toro (Cypress, Texas / Cy Woods) singled to put two runners on base, then an error on a sac bunt from
Jordan Arce (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Thousand Oaks) tied the game at 1-1.
Mariana Garcia (Goodyear, Ariz. / Canyon View) drew the first of her two walks in the game to load the bases, but Centre got an out at home just like what Trinity's defense did in the first. Boudreaux and Baltzell delivered back-to-back RBI singles after that, though, and the Tigers took the lead 3-1. Lee followed with an RBI groundout to close out the scoring and give Trinity a three-run lead. The Tigers were back in business in the third after drawing four straight walks to make it a 5-1 game.
Hannah Flores (San Antonio, Texas / Taft) pinch-hit and drew the walk to pick up an RBI, but the Tigers stranded the bases loaded and missed a chance at a huge inning.
Berry made Trinity pay for that in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs on just one hit to draw within two scores at 5-3. Koelewyn took over in the circle to start the fifth, getting two quick outs against the Vikings. Berry got back-to-back two-out hits after that to extend the inning, but Del Toro threw out the runner at home to keep the Vikings off the board.
Ella Whitacre (Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson) singled to lead off the sixth, which eventually led to two more runs for the Tigers. Baltzell doubled two batters later and pinch-runner
Meagan Brooks (Graham, Texas / Graham) scored on a throwing error. Lee singled to put runners on the corners, then Koelewyn smashed an RBI double to center to push the lead to 7-3. Koelewyn got the first two outs before Berry got a rally started in the seventh with a single and a walk. The Vikings got another hit to make it a 7-4 game, which brought Kriechbaum back to the circle. With the tying run at the plate, Kriechbaum got a game-clinching strikeout to cancel the comeback party.
Up Next
Trinity will face #2 seed Rhodes College (TN) in tomorrow's first game of the day at 1:00 p.m. (ET). The winner moves on to Saturday's SAA Championship game that is set for a 2:00 p.m. (ET) start. The loser will face the winner of tomorrow's first elimination game between Southwestern University (TX) and Berry on Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. (ET).
