Softball
Offense Powers the Hawks Past South Carolina State
The Shore Gets a Combined 29 Hits on Saturday
The Shore Gets a Combined 29 Hits on Saturday
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore softball team used a strong offensive day to grab two wins on Saturday (April 2) versus the South Carolina State University Bulldogs. The Hawks won game one 15-3 in five innings and game two 7-1.
Eastern Shore’s (11-19, 7-1 MEAC) two wins on Saturday gave the program their first double-digit win season since 2017. The 2017 squad finished the season with 11 wins.
In-game one, the Hawks only had three batters come to the plate in the opening inning. SC State would score the first run of the game in the bottom of the frame. Eastern Shore would then go on to score at least three runs in each of the remaining innings in the contest.
Sophomore Kelsie Ekstrom scored the team’s first run of the game in the second inning off an error by the Bulldogs. Freshman Kylee Lehman came up after that and singled to right to score her classmate Nola Mountain to put the team up 2-1. Graduate student Kaylyn Sterling would score the team’s third run of the frame as sophomore Ah-Nayia Oglesby doubled to center field.
One inning later, The Shore scored four more runs. Ekstrom hit an RBI single to bring junior Tyanna Roberts in to score. Ekstrom and sophomore Julia Garcia would then execute a double steal to bring Garcia home and make the score 5-1.
Freshman McKenzie Abiley doubled to left field two batters later to score Ekstrom to keep the offense moving. Sterling would then single up the middle to bring Abiley across home plate and make the score 7-1. The Bulldogs got runs in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to four runs.
The fourth inning would be the biggest offensive inning of the game for the Hawks. Garcia doubled to score Roberts to score the first run of the frame. The Shore would then load the bases and begin to deliver the knockout punch.
Abiley reached on an error and Garcia scored to make the score 9-1. Lehman hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Ekstrom on the next at-bat. Sterling then hit a double to bring Abiley and Mountain home. The Sterling hit to put the Hawks up 12-1.
Maryland Eastern Shore would get three more insurance runs in the fifth inning. Mountain had an RBI single to score Roberts and Abiley doubled down the left-field line to score Mountain and Garcia for the final runs of the game.
Mountain and Garcia each had three hits, an RBI, and three runs scored. Abiley had two hits and a season-high five RBI in game one.
The offense continued to produce in game two. Ekstrom had an RBI single to left field in the opening inning to give the Hawks the early 1-0 lead. One inning later, Oglesby doubled down the left-field line to score freshman Rebecca Miller. Sophomore Tatum Kresley brought Oglesby in to score with a single on the squad’s next at-bat. The Shore led 3-0 after two innings.
Both teams would score in the fourth inning. Eastern Shore would get two runs in the frame with each of them coming with two outs. Oglesby tripled to right-center to score Miller and Kresley had an infield single after that to bring Oglesby across home plate.
Two innings later, the Hawks got another two runs. The runs were scored by Sterling and Oglesby via a single by Kresley and a sacrifice fly by Ekstrom respectively.
Kresley went 3-4 with three runs scored in game two. Oglesby was 2-2 with a walk, three runs, and two RBI. Graduate student Nasya Goodman threw six innings inside the circle and allowed just one run.
The two teams will play the series finale tomorrow (April 3) at noon.
For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.