Elizabethtown, Ky. - Over the weekend, Transylvania University hosted the Pioneer Classic which took place in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. There were a total of 12 teams participating in the two day event, each team playing four games total.
On the first day, Transylvania took on Wittenberg University and Washington University in St. Louis. It was a cold, rainy, and windy day but the play continued through the elements. Transylvania played their first game against Wittenberg University, which went scoreless through the first three innings but in the top of the fourth Wittenberg had an RBI single for the first score of the game. After three more scoreless innings, Wittenberg scored two more runs in the seventh. In Transylvania's bottom half of the inning Alyssa Nunn reached second on a double and Stella Wulker hit a single to third base, but the Pioneers were unable to bring the baserunners home and the game finished with a 3-0 loss for Transylvania.
Their next game was against Washington University in St. Louis. Wash U scored three runs in the bottom half of the first inning and two runs in the second as the Pioneers were unable to score. In the top of the third the Pios were able to make a bit of a comeback after a huge three run home run to center from Taylor Senter, which brought home Cadee Baker and Becca Messing, to make the score 5-3. The game eventually ended on a run rule as Transylvania went scoreless for the rest of the game and gave up five more runs before a grand slam by Wash U to end the game. The final score of the game was 14-3, Transy loss.
On day two, the weather was perfect for softball. It was a sunny, cloudless, day in Elizabethtown with the temperature hovering around 60 degrees. For the first game of the day, Transylvania took on The Illinois Wesleyan Titans. The Pios came storming out of the gates with a 4 run first inning, the first run was scored from an RBI double by Senter to bring home Abby Frazier. Two batters later Annie Schuck hit a three run bomb to left field to end the inning up 4-0. The second inning was more of the same as Senter hit a huge grand slam to bring home Kadi Weaver, Baker, and Frazier and take a commanding 8-0 lead. The Titans tried to reply the next inning with a two run homer of their own, but that was all the Pios would allow. After two scoreless innings, the Pioneers kept their foot on the gas and closed out the game with a two RBI double down the left field line from Nunn to make the final score 10-2 due to the run rule. Transylvania took their first win at the Pioneer Classic in dominant fashion.
In their second game of the day Transylvania took on Trine University. The game went scoreless for the first two innings, but in the third Transylvania broke the seal with an RBI double from Messing to bring home Baker. Frazier then singled to right center and Messing advanced to third. The next batter was Weaver who was hit by a pitch to load the bases after Frazier had stolen second base. Senter then hit a two RBI single to make the score 3-0 with only one out in the third and runners on first and third, as the Pioneers were rolling. Nunn brought home Weaver who was on third with an RBI double, but Senter was out at second. That play finished the scoring for the Pios in their stellar inning with a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the third inning. Unfortunately, that is where the scoring stopped on the day for the Pioneers as Trine scored runs in their next three innings and prevented Transylvania from bringing any runs home, to eventually take a 5-4 win.
On the weekend, Transylvania went 1-3 with a big win against Illinois Wesleyan. The Pioneers look to bounce back from their loss against Trine in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 26th against Wooster before a doubleheader on March 29th against Centre.
For more information on Transylvania softball, follow @TransySoftball on Twitter.
