LEXINGTON, Ky. – Four games in four days over two road trips to the Bluegrass State turned out to be an exceptional experience for the Maryville Scots.
Brecca Williams and
Sara Koonce lined two-out, run-scoring hits to right field on consecutive pitches in the sixth inning to lift the Scots to a 7-6 comeback victory over No. 12-ranked Transylvania and a sweep of Tuesday's doubleheader. Maryville won the first game 8-1.
MC also swept a twin bill Saturday at Berea, winning 29-0 and 18-1.
Top Two Too Much for Transy
The Scots trailed the Pioneers 5-2 and 6-5 before staging their late rally. It began with a
Kaitlin Woodruff leadoff single up the middle. Woodruff was at third with two outs when Williams lined a shot past the outstretched glove of Pioneers second baseman Avery Parsons.
Woodruff trotted home and Koonce strode to the plate. Williams and Koonce were thorns in the sides of the Pioneers all afternoon. In the first game, Koonce belted a pair of home runs and drove in five. She and Williams for the doubleheader combined to go 9-for-14 with 11 runs scored and seven driven in.
The pivotal Game 2 moment was more of the same. After Williams knotted the game, Koonce ripped the very next pitch over the right fielder's head for an RBI-triple and a 7-6 lead.
Mikayla Hoschak came on and covered the final two innings in the circle for her third save. An infield error allowed Hoschak's first hitter to reach, but the lefthander calmly set down the next six batters in impressive order.
Whitney Carr (4-1) earned the victory with 4 and 2/3 innings of relief. She halted an early Transy outburst and then allowed just one earned run through the fifth inning, setting the stage for Maryville's comeback.
Ackerman Tosses Another Gem
Megan Ackerman (10-2) went the distance in Game 1, allowing an unearned run on three hits and striking out four without a walk. She leads the Collegiate Conference of the South with 10 pitching victories and 10 complete games.
Ackerman had a 2-0 lead when she first got to the circle thanks to Williams and Koonce introducing themselves to the Lexington faithful. In the opening frame, Williams singled to right and then Koonce blasted her first homer of the game over the fence in left.
After Transylvania got a run back, Koonce struck again in the fifth inning with her fourth home run of the season. This one was a three-run shot to left center that again followed a Williams single.
Williams (37) and Koonce (32) are 1-2 in the CCS in hits, and they are 1-4 in runs scored. Williams has touched the plate 34 times and Koonce 22. Williams through 24 games is batting .435 and Koonce .405, again among the CCS leaders.
Emily Hill doubled home a run in the sixth inning, and then
Paige Dickinson continued her RBI surge of late with a two-run double in the seventh. Hill was 2-for-4 in the nightcap and 3-for-5 on the day to lift her season average to .309. Dickinson is up to 23 RBIs, good for third in the CCS and trailing only the 26 by Koonce and the 29 by Belhaven's Allie Gordon.
Koonce with four home runs is now second in the league to Gordon's five.
Huge Two-Game Set
Maryville has a five-game winning streak for the first time this season and stands 17-7. The Scots were 13-11 through 24 games each of the last two seasons. A Transylvania team that was 8-1 is suddenly 9-6 and suffering through a four-game losing streak.
The Scots face a big doubleheader Saturday at Huntingdon. The Hawks enter their first CCS series of the season at 17-3 overall. Maryville is 2-0 in the CCS after Saturday's sweep at Berea.
