Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania softball team grew its winning streak to nine games with a doubleheader sweep of the Hanover College Panthers on Thursday evening at Hall Field.
Kameron Bowling tossed a nine-strikeout gem for a 5-1 Transy victory in game one and Cece Wittry teamed with Carlee Jeter in the circle for a 6-0 shutout of the Panthers in the nightcap.
The Pioneers improved to 22-8 overall and 10-2 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play, staying in hot pursuit of Mount St. Joseph at the top of the HCAC standings with four games remaining in their regular season. Hanover dropped to 11-16 overall and 8-6 in conference competition.
Taylor Senter fueled the offense in the opener with two doubles and two runs batted in to help the Pioneers erase an early 1-0 deficit and tally the final five runs of the game.
The Panthers found three of their eight hits on the day in the first three at-bats of the game to obtain a 1-0 advantage, but Bowling struck out two consecutive batters and retired the final Panther of the first inning on a groundout to seize control of the rest of the afternoon.
After Bowling struck out three more between the second and third innings, the Pioneers went ahead for good in the bottom of the third.
Wittry ignited the third inning by making her way to first on an infielding error and subsequently stole second. Becca Messing scored Wittry with a double into centerfield to square the game at 1-all. Following a second Panther error in the inning, Senter registered her first double of the game to score Childers from third base to put the Pioneers on top at 2-1.
Childers and Senter provided back-to-back RBI hits in the bottom of the fifth to strengthen the Transy lead to 4-1, and Wittry scored Kadi Weaver on a sacrifice bunt RBI in the following inning to seal up the win.
Bowling's complete-game win sharpened her record in the circle to 12-6 as the 2019 HCAC Pitcher of the Year dished nine strikeouts against no walks and seven hits.
Transylvania amassed 11 hits in game two as Alyssa Nunn went 2 for 3 with two runs batted in. The junior's RBI single in the second inning initiated a three-run inning that the Pioneers would build upon for the rest of the night. Wittry followed Nunn's blast with a two-run single into left field to augment another comprehensive individual performance, both defensively and offensively.
Wittry started and worked 4.2 innings, allowing just two hits, no walks, and no runs and tallying one strikeout. Jeter extinguished the final 2.1 innings, not allowing a Panther to reach base during her tenure.
Emily Hestand recorded her first career RBI in game two with a double to left center in the sixth inning that scored Childers, representing the seventh and final run of the night.
The Pioneers will play again tomorrow as they take on the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers in an HCAC doubleheader at Hall Field. First pitch between Transy and Rose-Hulman is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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