MARYVILLE – After six games in three days, time for a break.
Maryville concluded a wraparound weekend of softball with a late Monday afternoon doubleheader sweep of Austin. The Scots beat the Texans 3-1 and 4-2 to give them four wins since Saturday and a 9-5 record at the unofficial one-third marker of their regular season.
Now the Scots can rest up and get healthy during an 11-day break before their next games March 9.
Megan Ackerman went the distance in Monday's 3-1 opener, allowing an unearned run and scattering eight hits over her seven innings. She struck out eight and walked only one while improving to 6-1 for the young season. Her ERA stands at 1.59, which is on a career-best trajectory.
Making the Moves
Maryville head coach
Jill Moore was pulling all the right strings Monday. In Game 1, she inserted
Campbell White to pinch hit in the fourth inning with two on and two out in a 1-1 ball game. White promptly belted the first pitch she saw deep down the left field line to score
Kaitlin Woodruff and
Micayla Clark and give Ackerman all the run-support she needed.
"That was Campbell all the way being ready in the moment when her team needed her to come through," Moore said. "We don't have a lot of lefties in the lineup, and it was a really good matchup for her. She was ready to go on the first pitch and it was exactly what we needed."
White after her pinch-double went on to finish 3-for-4 in the doubleheader, lifting her season average 122 points to .353.
One inning prior to Campbell's heroics,
Sara Koonce had tied the score 1-1 on an RBI-double. Koonce was 5-for-7 in the twin bill and is batting an even .400 with a team-leading 10 RBIs.
Carr Slams Door on Kangaroos
In the second game, Maryville led 4-2 in the top of the third but Austin had a run across and the Kangaroos were threatening for more. That's when Moore changed pitchers and went to junior righthander
Whitney Carr, who merely gave the best performance of her brief Maryville career.
Carr got three quick outs to escape the third without further damage and went on to pitch five innings of shutout ball, allowing just two singles, no walks and striking out three.
"Whitney shut the door," Moore said. "We needed to put up some zeroes and she was ready in a big situation, with runners on and nobody out. She came in and attacked her batters – we needed that today. I was really proud of the way she saved this game for us."
Toss in
Paige Dickinson's strong pitching performance Sunday afternoon and Moore likes how her pitching staff is coming together.
"The work in the bullpen that our pitchers are putting in, they are starting to see results and see the payoffs," Moore said. "I'm excited for them."
Carr with the victory improved to 2-0 and her ERA dropped to 2.80.
Swinging Scots
Woodruff and
Brecca Williams were right behind Koonce for Monday's hitting honors. Woodruff was 4-for-7 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. She drove in two of Maryville's four runs in Game 2 with an RBI-double in the first and a run-scoring single in the second. Williams finished 2-for-5 with a walk and 2-for-2 in stolen bases. She leads the team in swipes with 10 in 11 attempts.
The Scots did leave nine on base in Monday's second game, but Moore isn't complaining. At least not too much. She knows her offense has a great deal of upside.
"I like where we're at," Moore said. "I like how we're swinging it. We are going to go back to work during the break on our situational hitting and not making the moment too big. We will get there.
"I'm proud of how we are working. I wish we would leave fewer runners on base, but that's what the pre-conference season is all about. I know they are going to come through when we need them."
Maryville's 9-5 record equates to a .643 winning percentage, which is exactly where the Scots ended their 2023 season at 27-15. After this mini-break, Maryville returns to host Birmingham-Southern and conclude what is thus far a 4-2 home stand. The Scots then head to Virginia for Spring Break doubleheaders at Roanoke, Southern Virginia and Randolph before opening Collegiate Conference of the South play March 16 at Berea.
"We've got a good break coming up leading into Spring Break, which is a busy week for us," Moore said. "We play at home and then we get back on the road. Those games before we start conference are really going to prepare us for when it counts."
