Softball concludes regular season with 8-4 win over Manchester

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The Defiance College softball team closed out the regular season with an 8-4 victory against Manchester Monday afternoon at Sal Hench Field. Today's game was resumed after inclement weather forced the game to be suspended on Thursday afternoon. 

The Yellow Jackets end the regular season with an overall record of 14-23 with a 9-9 mark in the HCAC. Manchester ends with an overall record of 19-18 and 8-10 mark in conference play.

The Yellow Jackets scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back. Laney Grimwood, Anika Craft, and Brooke Silcox all reached base to start the first inning to help propel the early rally. Payton Mallett and Ali Mowen followed and each drove in one run and later in the inning Silcox scored on a wild pitch while Mowen scored on a groundout by Savannah McCoy to give DC a 4-0 lead. In the top of the first, McCoy worked around two errors in the inning to keep the Spartans scoreless.

Manchester loaded the bases with one out in the second inning and cut the lead in half by scoring two in the inning. After a very quick next two and a half innings, the Yellow Jackets plated four more runs on the board in the fifth to blow the game open. With one out in the inning, DC got five straight hits and scored their runs. Mallett earned a two-run single while Mowen and Guggenbiller followed with RBI doubles. 

The Spartans had the first two on in the sixth and had the help of a DC error but did not score in the inning. Manchester added two more in the seventh but that was it as Avery Roever secured the win with a catch in center field. 

Grimwood, Craft, Mallett, Mowen, and Guggenbiller all finished with two hits apiece and Mallett drove in a team-leading three runs in the contest. McCoy (4-9) went the distance on the mound to earn her fourth win of the season, striking out two in 7.0 innings while allowing four runs but only three were earned. Elizabeth Patrick also made her collegiate debut as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning. 

Up Next

Defiance and Manchester will meet again on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. in Lexington, Ky in the four versus five matchup. Transylvania University will serve as the host for all games at the conference tournament. Stay tuned to defianceathletics.com for updates throughout the week.