Lexington, Ky. – A wild Sunday of uncertainty featuring a full offering of highs and lows saw the Transylvania softball team split a pair of games in the season-opening Transylvania Tournament at John Cropp Stadium on the campus of the University of Kentucky.

The Pioneers grabbed their first win of the season by overpowering the Depauw University Tigers in a five-inning 10-2 victory in the morning.

Following a loss by Wartburg College in the tournament's next game, the Pioneers won a tiebreaker of run differential to clinch a berth in the tournament's championship game. Six hours later, the Pioneers faced the No. 18 nationally-ranked Trine University Thunder, enduring an 8-0 loss in five frames.

The Pioneers moved to 1-3 after their opening weekend and a series of tests against three Midwest teams with established pedigrees.

The Transylvania Tournament commenced the 2017 season for the Pioneers, and also served as the final games for the softball squad prior to the annual spring break trip to Florida.  

Game One

Pursuing the first win of their young season, the Pioneers wasted no time on Sunday morning making their move towards victory with a three-run first inning. Sophomore outfielder Shelby Gambrell initialized offensive production with a lead-off base hit, and quickly took second base.

Gambrell came home after a throwing error by Depauw, while sophomore infielder Brittany Mumford followed suit with the second single of the inning. Mumford replicated Gambrell's basepath journey with a stolen base, and a hit from sophomore outfielder Shelbi Poehlein moved Mumford to third.

A successful double steal by Mumford and Poehlein provided the Pioneers with a 2-0 lead, and Poehlein took advantage of a wild pitch to come home for the Pios' third run of the first inning.

The Pioneers tacked one another run in the second inning on a two-out RBI single from Mumford to drive home Gambrell for a 4-0 advantage.

Sophomore pitcher Jordan Kramer got the start in the first game of the day, marching through 4 and 1/3 innings with five strikeouts to boot.  

Depauw asserted itself in the top of the fifth inning, scoring its first two runs of the day after back-to-back singles and an RBI groundout. The Tigers picked up their second run on a Transylvania throwing error, but junior pitcher Renae Morton checked in to gather the final two outs of the inning, procuring a 4-2 advantage for Transylvania.

The Pioneers ended the game as fiercely as they began it, tabulating six runs in the bottom of the frame to win via the eight-run rule.

Leading off the fifth inning, Poehlein reached first base on an error by the Depauw pitcher. The following batter in sophomore infielder Meg Liter took advantage with a two-run home run to extend the Transylvania lead to 6-2.

The Pioneers took over full momentum when senior infielder Shelby Bailey immediately followed with a solo home run shot.

Two more Pioneers got aboard, as freshman outfielder Sydney Motell reached base on an error, and junior outfielder Madison Dorsey drew a base-on-balls. Depauw quickly earned two outs against Transy, but Morton delivered an RBI single that scored Motell for the 8-2 advantage.

Mumford came through with another single that loaded the bases. Poehlein ended the morning with a sharply-hit single towards left field to score two runners, thus reaching the eight-run lead threshold.

The Pioneers collected 14 total hits in the game, led by Mumford and Bailey's 3-for-4 days. Gambrell, Morton, Poehlein all each had multi-hit games. Kramer picked up her first win of the season as did the Pioneers.

Game Two

The Pioneers entered the championship game looking to return the favor to Trine for a bitter two-run loss in 10 innings the afternoon before. Instead, the Thunder seized momentum from the start of the rematch and surged ahead from there.

Junior outfielder Madison Dorsey commanded a walk in the top of the first inning but the Thunder surrounded that at-bat with three efficient outs, and went to work in the bottom of the inning.

An ominous start quickly became overwhelming as eventual Tournament MVP Makenna Hartline smacked a two-run home run to left field for a 2-0 Trine lead. Trine continued its hot-bat contagion as Catherine Porter hit a grand slam for a 7-0 Trine advantage after one inning.

Liter led off the second inning with a base hit as the Pioneers tried to whittle away at Trine, but the Thunder again limited the Pioneers offensively. Trine came up with a sacrifice fly RBI in the bottom of the eighth inning to assert the eight-run lead.

The Pioneers collected three hits, but could not come up with the requisite run before the five-inning limit approached and Trine collected the tournament championship in a game that lasted one hour and 42 minutes.

Gambrell, Liter, and freshman infielder Janette Hynes each gathered a hit for the Pioneers in the final game of a busy weekend.

The Pioneers will now break from gameplay for one week before commencing a stretch of 12 games in seven days in Clermont, Florida at the Rebel Spring Games. The Pioneers will start their Florida trek with a Sunday game against Marietta College at 11:15 a.m on March 12.

For more on Transylvania softball, follow @TransySports on Twitter

All-Tournament Team

MVP – Makenna Hartline, Trine

Carly Bachna, Trine

Danielle Ray, Trine

Catherine Porter, Trine

Brittany Mumford, Transylvania

Shelbi Poehlein, Transylvania

Savannah Holler, Depauw

Emma Baldwin, Depauw

Mara Forsyth, Wartburg

Kimberly Wedeking, Wartburg