MITCHELL, SD. – The Hastings College softball team hit the road to take on Dakota Wesleyan in a critical matchup, but the Lady Broncos ended up on the losing end of both games on Friday dropping game one 16-15 before losing game two 16-5 in five innings.
Game one may have been one of the wildest games out there as it seemed like a football game broke out in the middle of a softball game because so many runs were being scored.
The Lady Broncos would get the offensive barrage started as Isabel Tanabe singled to get things going. Following a sac bunt, Lauren Schneider singled to put runners on the corners and then Lexie Mudloff brought Tanabe home with a single to left. Elana Gerhard made it 3-0 with a 2 RBI double to right center and she later scored on the Katyn Kappler RBI single to make it 4-0.
Then DWU stepped up and out did Hastings by putting up six runs in the bottom of the first. After just the first inning of play, 10 runs had been scored while the inning lasted more than 30 minutes.
HC would regain the lead in the second by scoring three more runs off Lexie Mudloff‘s RBI fielder’s choice and Gerhard 2 RBI single to go up 7-6 but the Tigers answered right back with three run of their own to go back up 9-7.
Hastings would later tie the game again in the fourth with a RBI groundout by Macie Mays and a RBI double off the bat of Kappler to tie the game 10-10. Then Hastings took a 13-10 lead in the fifth off of a 2 RBI double from Mudloff and a RBI single from Mays.
Once again that lead would be short lived as DWU came back with a five run inning to take a 15-13 lead. Once again Hastings had an answer with a 2 RBI single off the bat of Mudloff as the game headed to the final frame.
Unfortunately, Hastings went down in order as the seventh would be the one inning in which they did not score while Dakota Wesleyan was able to game the game winning run to score in the seventh as HC was defeated 16-15.
Mudloff had herself a huge game going 4-for-5 with six RBIs. Gerhard went 2-for-5 with four RBIs while Tanabe would go 4-for-5 with four runs scored.
Game two was all Tigers DWU jumped out to a 16-0 lead through four innings before Hastings finally got the sticks going in the fifth. Sam Skinner and Kappler each picked up a RBI single while Gerhard cleared the bases with a 3 RBI double to center but it wouldn’t be enough to keep the game going losing 16-5 in game two in five innings.
Kappler went 2-for-3 with a RBI while Gerhard was 1-for-2 with three RBIs.
Hastings is now 15-23 (3-13) on the year and will be back in action Saturday Apr. 20 hitting the road to take on Jamestown with first pitch set for noon up in Jamestown, ND.
