Eagles Continue GLIAC Road Swing With Split Vs. Panthers

Ashland University's softball team both won and lost via late-inning heroics on Sunday (April 18) at Davenport, winning 8-5 and losing 6-5 in eight innings in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.
 
The Eagles are 8-16 overall and 5-8 in the GLIAC, and the Panthers are 16-16, 12-8.
 
Sunday's opener began with the Eagles scoring in the top of the first inning when sophomore designated player Kayla Ruperto scored on a passed ball. Davenport came back with two unearned runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead, and went up 4-1 with single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth.
 
Ashland, however, took a 7-4 lead with a six two-out runs in the top of the sixth. Ruperto's two-run single got the Eagles closer, senior left fielder Alli Hylton reached on a Panther error which allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score, Hylton then scored on a second straight Davenport miscue, and senior shortstop Abigail Butler finished off the rally with an RBI single.
 
The Eagles tacked on another insurance run in the top of the seventh when freshman catcher Jordyn Severns scored on one of seven Davenport errors in the contest. The Panthers scored a run in the bottom of the seventh, but the tying run remained on deck.
 
Ruperto was 2-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Freshman pitcher Jillian Middleton (2-8) earned the victory in the pitcher's circle, going the distance and allowing seven hits, five runs (two earned) and one walk.
 
Game 2 had the scoreless tie broken in the bottom of the third, as the Panthers scored three times to take the lead. Ashland came back in the top of the fourth and put up three runs of its own on a Butler RBI groundout, a sacrifice fly from sophomore right fielder Haylee Frost and a run-scoring infield single from Severns.
 
Davenport came back with an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth to regain the advantage at 4-3, then another tally in the bottom of the sixth extended the Panther lead to 5-3. Hylton, however, kept the Eagle late-inning rally train going with a game-tying two-run home run, her second of the season, in the top of the seventh to knot the game at 5.
 
A Panther leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth gave Davenport the extra-inning victory.
 
The Eagles had a season-high 13 hits, with freshman third baseman Hailey Struckman, Hylton, junior first baseman Alexis Lavdis, senior second baseman Emma Lawson and Butler each having two. Sophomore pitcher Josie Duncan (3-4) allowed two hits and two runs in two innings of relief, striking out one.
 
Of Ashland's eight wins this season, six have come after the Eagles trailed through the fourth inning or later. And of the Eagles' 24 games in 2021, exactly half (12) have been decided by one or two runs.
 
The Eagles will conclude their GLIAC road trip on Monday (April 19) at 1 p.m. at Ferris State (10-15, 3-12).