Eagle Softball Off To 2-2 Start After Dome Invitational

If the opening weekend as any indication, Ashland University's softball team's games in 2021 are not going to lack for excitement.
 
The Eagles split their four games on Saturday (Feb. 20) and Sunday (Feb. 21), winning a game on each day. On Sunday, Ashland scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 7-6 victory, then lost to Lewis 3-2 in six innings (stopped due to time limit) to close out the weekend.
 
Ashland's 5-2 win over William Jewell on Saturday came after the Eagles scored all their runs in the top of the sixth. AU has played 17 games since the start of the 2020 season, and of those, seven have been decided by a single run.
 
Sunday's action began with a walk-off win over the Prairie Stars. Trailing 6-4 going into the final three outs of the game, Ashland cut its deficit to a single run on an RBI fielder's choice from junior center fielder Jamie Rutherford, then won the game when senior second baseman Emma Lawson brought home Rutherford and senior shortstop Abigail Butler with a single.
 
Lawson and freshman third baseman Hailey Krinn each had two RBIs, and Lawson and junior first baseman Alexis Lavdis each had two hits. Sophomore pitcher Josie Duncan earned her first win of 2021 thanks to a scoreless seventh inning.
 
Against the host Flyers on Sunday, Ashland scored twice in the top of the second inning on a Lawson run-scoring single and an RBI double from sophomore left fielder Lauren McMillin. Lewis, however, chipped away at the deficit, scoring once in the bottom of the third and twice in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Lawson was 2-for-4, and the tough-luck loss in the pitcher's circle went to freshman Jillian Middleton, who yielded nine hits, three runs and three walks and struck out two in 4 1/3 frames.
 
Late on Saturday night, the Eagles lost an 11-3 decision in five innings to Hillsdale. McMillin and Butler each had two hits for AU.
 
Ashland is scheduled to return to action on March 13 for a doubleheader at Findlay. The Eagles' home opener at Brookside Park is slated for a March 17 twinbill against Ohio Dominican.