DEMOREST, Ga. – That's how you get ready for the postseason!
Maryville swept its first doubleheader at Piedmont in 15 years behind the shutout pitching of
Megan Ackerman and an offense that did just enough. The Scots prevailed 3-0 and 6-4 to claim third place in the Collegiate Conference of the South standings.
Saturday's two wins pushed Maryville's CCS record to 12-4 for the second straight year and 29-11 overall. The Scots finished 27-15 a season ago when they played their way to a runner-up finish in the inaugural CCS tournament.
Maryville now awaits its opponent (it looks like Agnes Scott) and location (who knows?) for the 2024 league tournament, which takes place May 1-4 at the highest seed.
A-Plus Ackerman
Ackerman went the distance in Game 1, allowing just three singles for her fifth shutout of the season and 16th complete game. That latter figure ranks third in the nation.
In Game 2, Ackerman closed out the final 2 and 1/3 innings to preserve a one-run lead and pick up her 17th victory against four losses. For the day, the lefty pitched 9 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball and allowed just nine baserunners – four singles, three hit-batters, one walk and one via error.
"We are very evenly matched," Scots head coach
Jill Moore said of Saturday's two teams. "Megan was the difference maker. She carried us on her back. We got ourselves into trouble defensively in that second game, but Megan came in and got us through it.
"It wasn't pretty, it was tough, but we found a way."
Ackerman lowered her ERA to 1.11, which is 72 points below her previous season-best of 1.83 set last year. Her 17 wins are four more than the 13 she posted in each of her first two seasons at Maryville (Ackerman transferred here after two seasons at Chattanooga State). And she still has pitched just 125.2 innings this season compared to 145.2 last year and 148.1 in 2022.
Saturday's game plan was unusual in that Moore wanted Ackerman to keep the ball in the air as a way of neutralizing Piedmont's slap and speed game.
"She got the ball into the air for us to be able to make plays," Moore said. "She mixed her up and down really well against a tough lineup that has speed. We wanted the ball up in the air and not on the ground to slow them down, and Megan was able to do that."
Quite the Streak for Hill
Emily Hill continued her hot hitting in Game 1 and had a hand in all three Maryville runs. She delivered an RBI-single in the first inning, a sacrifice fly in the third, and led off the sixth with a single. Pinch-runner
Sarah Phelps then scored in Hill's place to give Ackerman some breathing room with a 3-0 lead.
Hill wore the collar in Game 2 – all great streaks come to an end. But since the last time she went hitless back on March 12 at Southern Virginia, Hill has raised her batting average 159 points from .227 to its current .386. During her 16-game hitting streak, Hill batted a cool .585, going 24-for-41.
The senior first baseman was in the mix again when Maryville scored five runs in the top of the first inning of Game 2.
Brecca Williams doubled and
Sara Koonce walked before Hill reached on catcher's interference.
Bailey Myers,
Campbell White and
Ava Whitmire delivered RBI-singles to set up
Cierra Hudson's two-run double as the Scots sent nine to the plate and led 5-0.
Maryville pitchers
Whitney Carr and
Mikayla Hoschak allowed just two earned runs over 4 and 2/3 innings. But four Scot errors prolonged innings and led to a pair of unearned runs, and the Lions pulled within 5-4 with the bases loaded and two out in the fifth.
That's when Moore called on Ackerman for relief duty and the southpaw responded by retiring seven of the eight batters she faced, allowing a two-out single in the seventh.
Offensive Recap
Williams helped the cause with a run-scoring single in the top of the sixth, capping her 3-for-8 afternoon. Whitmire went 3-for-4 with an RBI, Koonce was 3-for-6 with two runs scored, Hudson 2-for-6 with two RBIs and Dickinson 2-for-7 with an RBI.
"We came out ready to go in that second game," Moore said. "We were patient and knocked their starter out early. Put ourselves in a good position. And being able to scrape out that last run was big for us."
Maryville with the two victories stretched its winning streak over Piedmont to four games for the first time in at least 20 years, and the Scots won a doubleheader in Demorest for the first time since April 9, 2009. MC also improved to 16-6 in true road games.
Now the Scots have a breather and can look ahead to postseason play. Moore says they will be ready.
"It's what you train for all year," she said. "We are ready for a postseason fight."
