LEXINGTON - No. 25 Transylvania Softball moved to first place in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference softball standings after winning both games against Franklin this afternoon. The Pioneers won in walk-off fashion 3-2 before dominating Franklin in a 6-1 victory to control their destiny as they look to host the HCAC softball tournament next weekend.

In game one, Carlee Jeter continued her impressive season in the circle and won her 15th game of the season after pitching a complete game, 8 inning, 6 strikeout game. Her 15 wins in the circle lead the HCAC.

Transylvania took the lead early. Dakota Burke led off with a single to right center, and was brought in on Ella Steczynski's game tone setting RBI triple for the 1-0 lead. It was Ella's 3rd triple of the season. 2 batters later, Carson Murray hit a sacrifice fly to score Steczynski.

After 2 scoreless innings, Franklin scored a pair of runs in the top of the 4th to tie the game. Despite opportunities for both teams in the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings, neither team could break the tie and extra innings would be needed.

In the top of the 8th, Jeter escaped a bases loaded jam with 2 outs by getting Franklin's Lowry to fly out to Dakota Burke to give Transy the opportunity to win it in the bottom half.

With Katie Mewes placed on second base to start the inning, Reagan Rouleau bunted her over to third base and reached first safely. With runners on the corners, Dakota Burke played hero and hit a deep fly ball to center field for Rouleau to tag and score the game winning run to give Transy the 3-2 win and set the stakes for game two. With the game one win, Transy needed to win game two to keep their tournament hosting ambitions alive.

The Pioneers would do just that.

In game two, Transylvania defeated the Grizzlies 6-1 behind a big 4 run 1st innings and stellar pitching from Sophie Moshos, who earned her 12th win in the circle which is tied for 2nd best in the conference behind Carlee Jeter. She pitched a complete game and struck out 11.

Moshos is now at 144 strikeouts this season, which brings her to 5 away from tying her strikeout total set last season at 149 which is 10th best in a season in program history.

Stella Wulker cleared the bases with an RBI triple that scored Izzy Story, Avery Parsons, and Ella Steczynski. Wulker scored the next at bat on Reagan Rouleau's bunt to extend the lead to 4-0 early in the game.

The 4 run 1st inning proved to be all the Pioneers needed offensively, as Moshos allowed only 1 run in the win. The Pioneers held the No. 2 offense in the HCAC to just 4 hits in game two and 7 on the entire day.

Transy added insurance runs in the 5th as Steczynski bunted and reached first safely and scored Katie Mewes on the play. Avery Parsons doubled down the left field line to score Ella for the 6-1 lead. Both finished 2-3 with an RBI.

The wins move the Pioneers to 29-8 overall and 14-2 in the HCAC. The Pioneers are now tied for 1st place with Franklin, but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the wins today. With two wins Saturday at Rose-Hulman, Transylvania will host the 2024 HCAC Tournament and clinch at the very least a share of the HCAC regular season crown. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 PM