Alice Lloyd College Lady Eagle Softball Earns Split at University of Pikeville

Pikeville, KY: The Alice Lloyd College Lady Eagles softball team returned to action on March 30th as they traveled to Pikeville to face the UPike Lady Bears. ALC had two solid pitching performances that helped earn a split.

March 30th
GAME 1
Alice Lloyd-1; UPike-2

The Lady Bears came back late to pull out the opening contest in a pitching duel.

The scoring started in the third. when ALC's Rachel Rife (LF) singled. Later, Ellie Keene (CF) laced out a triple to drive her in and put the Caney Creek squad ahead, 1-0.

Pikeville managed to reverse things in the fifth. After two batters reached base, a huge triple then drove them both in to take the lead, 2-1.

The Lady Eagles looked to answer in the seventh when Maleigh McDaniel led off the inning with a triple. Unfortunately, her teammates were unable to advance her any further with the one big hit they needed to enable the match to end in their favor.

At the plate, Lyndsey Adkins (1B) and Alexis Morris joined Rife, Keene, and Mcdaniel with one hit each. Keene had the only RBI. Maleigh Mcdaniel suffered the disappointing loss on the mound, as she allowed 5 hits and 2 earned runs in 5.1 innings. She struck out 2 batters and whiffed 3. Baylee Cox tossed the final 1.1 innings, giving up 0 hits.

Both squads had 5 hits and played error-free ball.

GAME 2
Alice Lloyd- 4, UPike-3

ALC raced ahead before being forced to withstand a Lady Bear comeback. Fortunately, an unusual game-ending play iced the win.

The Lady Eagles struck with a big second inning. First, with two runners on base, Cox lined a single to left, which scored both teammates (2-0). Immediately following her, Rife repeated the feat to score Cox (3-0). The Pippa Passes squad picked up another run in the fourth. With pinch-runner Audrey Mowell on base, Chloe Taylor (SS) smashed a double to bring the speedster home (4-0).

Things took a turn in the UPike squads' favor in the fifth when a single gave them their first run (4-1). Things would remain unchanged until the seventh.

In the final opportunity for the Bears, a golden opportunity arose when several walks loaded the bases with two away. Later, a wild pitch and walk would bring two runners across home. Now with 2 outs, runners were on the corners. Then something unexpected happened. Pikeville substituted in a pinch runner on first with the hope of stealing a base and having the winning run on second. However, the Bears' coaching staff actually made an illegal substitution. Once play resumed, the umpire promptly signaled the runner out, thus handing the victory to the Caney Creek club.

At the plate, Taylor was a perfect 3-3 with 2 doubles, while Adkins also doubled. Cox provided 2 RBIs.

On the mound, Napier tossed five innings of three-hit ball, allowing 3 hits with 0 earned runs and 1 K. Haley Howell came on for 1.2 innings, and gave up 1 hit and 1 run. Cox recorded the final out, and Napier was credited for the victory.

Alice Lloyd took the hitting crown 9-4 but hurt themselves with the only 2 errors of the contest.