Big Green Take Down EKU and Houston

Saturday, March 17

Houston, Texas

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-8

Eastern Kentucky

16-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Dartmouth	0	3	1	0	0	1	0	5	9	2
Eastern Kentucky	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Dartmouth	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	6	2
Houston	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	1

3/17/2018 5:42:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

HOUSTON, Texas – The Dartmouth softball team returned to the diamond Saturday afternoon after nearly two weeks off, to take down Eastern Kentucky, 5-1, and Houston 2-1 in extra innings, in the first day of the 2018 Houston Round Robin tournament. The Big Green improve to 4-8 on the season while the Colonels move to 16-8 and the Cougars 15-8.

Dartmouth vs. Eastern Kentucky
In the first game of the day, Dartmouth played as the visiting team to EKU and got things rolling in the top of the second, when Claire Bird hit a double to left field, batting in Morgan Martinelli and taking a 1-0 advantage. Taylor Ward followed Bird with her second home run of the year, setting the 3-0 lead which the Big Green carried into the third inning.

In the top of the third, Calista Almer sent a double to left center with one out and scored the fourth run of the game as Loghan Thomas grounded out. The Colonels tallied one run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning on a homerun from Destinee Lizzmore.

The Big Green held on defensively through the remaining innings, not allowing another run to be scored. McKenna Gray scored an insurance run in the top of the sixth, after she had advanced to third following a bases-loaded situation, she was batted in on a single by Bird.

Freshman Shelby Wilkison played the entire game on the mound for Dartmouth, allowing just one hit which resulted in the single run, striking out 11 and walking two.

Dartmouth vs. Houston
For the late afternoon game, the Big Green faced host Houston on its home field, in a game that went to extra innings.

The first four innings featured 1-2-3 showings for the road team, as the Cougars grabbed their first run in the bottom of the third. It wasn't until the top of the sixth that team in white and green would even out the score, when Micah Schroder hit a double to center field, batting in Loghan Thomas.

Heading into the seventh inning tied 1-1 proved to be a battle as Martinelli led the inning off with a single and Jade Bravo went in to pinch run for her, before getting picked off at second base, and Gray and Bird took the final two outs.

Houston just needed to score one run in the bottom of the seventh to take the win, but was unable to do so, even with runners on second and third and two outs as Arielle James lined out to the shortstop taking the game into extra innings.

Bird was placed on second to start the eighth inning, and advanced to third as Thomas popped up to left field and Delaney Marshall came to bat with runners on first and third and only one out. Marshall hit a single to right center field, batting in Bird who scored the eventual game-winning run. Strong defense and pitching from the road team was necessary to not allow the Cougars to take the win in the bottom of the inning. Their base runner advanced to third on an error with only one out, before the final two batters flied out and lined out respectively, ending the game.

Senior Breanna Ethridge got the start for the Big Green against the host team, tossing three innings allowing four hits with one run and one error and striking out one, before freshman Heather Turner came in for the remaining five innings allowing three hits and striking out one.

The win is the first-ever over Houston as the two teams had never faced off before today.

Dartmouth returns to Cougar Softball Stadium tomorrow for a game against each team to complete the round robin weekend.