ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. – The Maryville Scots split the opening day of the Pioneer Classic, defeating the Adrian Bulldogs before falling to the MSOE Raiders. Across the two contests, Maryville tallied 21 hits and drove in 15 RBIs.
Game One – Maryville 13, Adrian 7
Maryville's offense got rolling in the second inning when Sydney Dickinson doubled to left-center. Catie Zanifollowed with a two-run home run to bring Dickinson home and give the Scots an early lead.
In the top of the third, Olivia Harris doubled to right-center, scoring Paige Dickinson and Zani to extend Maryville's advantage to 4-2.
Adrian responded with a three-run third inning to briefly take the lead, but the Scots answered quickly as Sydney Dickinson delivered a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Maryville broke things open in the fifth inning, capitalizing on Bulldog errors. Abby Woodard added a sacrifice RBI before Sydney Dickinson tripled to right field, driving in Emma Blankenship and Jessica Harris to push the Scots ahead 11-5.
Adrian added two runs in the bottom half of the inning, but Maryville responded with two insurance runs. Paige Dickinson drew a bases-loaded walk for an RBI, and Olivia Harris singled to left field to bring Sydney Dickinson home. The Scots secured the 13-7 victory.
In the circle, Tia Stewart delivered a strong outing, throwing 104 pitches while facing 32 batters and recording four strikeouts. Freshman Watiyeli Taylor closed the game with a scoreless final inning, allowing no hits and adding one strikeout.
Game Two – MSOE 7, Maryville 5
Maryville found itself trailing early in game two, falling behind 4-0 against the Raiders.
The Scots responded in the third inning when J. Harris scored on a sacrifice fly from Zani to break the scoring drought. With two outs, Desiree Nance reached on an error by the right fielder, allowing Olivia Harris, Paige Dickinson, and Blankenship to score and tie the game at 4-4.
MSOE regained the lead with two runs in the fourth inning. Maryville managed to limit the damage as a runner interference call at shortstop on Jessica Harris ended the inning with runners in scoring position.
The Scots added another run in the fifth, capitalizing on a Raider error to cut the deficit to one. MSOE responded with an additional run in the sixth and held off Maryville's late push to secure the 7-5 win.
Whitney Carr entered the circle facing a four-run deficit and delivered a solid effort in relief, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while facing 24 batters.
Maryville returns to action Saturday morning, facing the Transylvania Pioneers at 11 a.m. before closing out the Pioneer Classic against the Anderson Ravens at 1:15 p.m.
