DANVILLE, Ky. – The Maryville Scots are a 20-win team. It just took a
looooooot of free softball Sunday to make it official.
On closing day of the regular season, Maryville and Centre played 11 innings before the Scots exploded for six runs in the top half of that final frame to finally subdue the host Colonels and win 11-5. Both teams scored a single run in the fourth inning, two in the eighth and two more in the 10th before Maryville removed all doubt in the 11th.
Maryville won Sunday's first game 8-3.
Those two victories pushed the Scots over the 20-win plateau in a season that looked beyond hope for such accomplishment. MC after graduating eight senior starters from a year ago began the 2025 campaign 1-7, but 13 wins in their last 16 games puts the Scots at 20-18 heading into the Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament.
The double-elimination event starts Wednesday in Montgomery, Alabama. Maryville enters as the No. 3 seed and plays LaGrange at 2 p.m. Central time.
Bats Finally Break Out
In Sunday's deciding 11th inning,
Tate Romero began the frame on second base under the international tiebreaker rule.
Jessica Harris singled to put runners at the corners, and then Harris took second unopposed.
Brecca Williams then bounced a double over the third-base bag and Maryville went in front 7-5.
One out later,
Ryleigh Maples doubled off the fence in left and Williams trotted home with Maryville's eighth run.
Emma Blankenship doubled to center and, one out later,
Ashtyn Barga singled to left for a 9-5 cushion. After a pitching change,
Catie Zani singled through the hole in left and the Scots had 11.
Tia Stewart pitched the first 10 innings for her team-leading seventh victory. She allowed just three earned runs on eight hits and struck out a career-high 12. Her previous strikeout high was six in a complete-game victory over Asbury on March 21. Stewart over her last three outings has two wins and a save, with a 2.28 ERA over 15 and 1-3 innings.
In Game 1, Maryville bolted to a 7-0 lead over the first three innings in support of
Jacey Goetzinger. The first-year hurler went the distance, allowing three runs on nine hits and lifting her record to 6-3.
Big Day for Blankenship
Blankenship was Sunday's hitting star for the Scots. The junior outfielder combined to go 5-for-9 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and four driven in. During her current eight-game hitting streak, Blankenship is batting .393 (11-for-28) and has her season average up to .325.
Barga after wearing the collar in Game 1 came back to go 4-for-6 in the nightcap. She finished the day 4-for-10 with a stolen base, three runs scored and two RBIs. Her current .383 average is a season high.
Zani finished the day 2-for-5 with four runs driven in,
Jessica Harris was 3-for-9 with two runs scored, and
Olivia Harris combined to go 3-for-10 with a double, a run scored and one RBI.
Maryville completed a four-game season sweep of Centre, which dropped to 4-28. The Scots went 7-3 this season against the Southern Athletic Association, which accepts Maryville as a new conference member for softball in 2027.
