Softball splits opening series with Hope

The Defiance softball team opened the 2022 season by splitting a doubleheader against Hope, winning the first game 9-5 and falling 8-3 in game two.

The Basics

• Records: Defiance (1-1), Hope (1-1)
• Location: Defiance High School - Defiance, Ohio
• Attendance: 400

Game One

• Senior Kalin Hubble went 3-4 with a double and drove in three runs.
• Sophomore Brooke Silcox went 3-4 with a double and scored two runs.
• Junior Marissa Roberts went 2-4 with a home run and two RBIs.
• Freshman Destiny Coil drove in a pair of runs with a pinch-hit double.
• Graduate student Taylor Biggs threw a complete game with five strikeouts to earn the win.
• Hope took an early lead thanks to a solo home run from Arinn King. 
• The Yellow Jackets were kept off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when Roberts homered to center field to spark a nine-run sixth inning for Defiance.
• Defiance's large rally was helped by Hubble, who hit an RBI double, and senior Sophie Moller, who drove in Hubble with a single to center.
• Coil added to the lead with a clutch pinch-hit double and came around to score on a Natlee Cooper single.
• Roberts added another RBI in the inning with a single that scored Cooper.
• Hubble drove in another two with a single to right field to give the Yellow Jackets a 9-1 lead.
• A two-run shot from Cayley Ebeling cut the lead 9-3 in the bottom half of the sixth.
• The Flying Dutchmen added another two in the bottom of the seventh before Biggs struck out Ebeling looking to end the game.

Game Two

• Roberts, Silcox, Hubble, and graduate student Hali Geraci each recorded a hit in the second game.
• Sophomore Savannah McCoy took the loss after going 4.2 innings and allowing five runs. 
• Sophomore Riley Alcorn threw the final 1.1 innings and allowed three runs.
• Hope scored runs in the bottom of the first and second to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
• The Flying Dutchmen added three more runs in the fifth thanks to solo home runs from King, Lexi Potapczak, and Vanessa Krombeen.
• Defiance got a run back from a solo shot from Silcox in the top of the sixth and scored two more runs thanks to a throwing error by Hope's pitcher.
• Hope answered with three more runs in their half of the sixth and closed out the game in the seventh.

Up Next

• The Yellow Jackets will host Alma for a doubleheader at Sal Hench Field on Thursday, March 10 with the first pitch set for 3:00 p.m.