Jackets finish opening weekend with win

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Opening weekend for Defiance College softball ended in a 1-3 showing for the Yellow Jackets, ending on a high note with a shutout victory over West Virginia Tech. 

Sophomore Emma Linn was the team's top hitter from the weekend, going 6-for-9 with a team-best 3 RBIs. Kaylee Heath also collected 6 hits for the weekend with a 3-hit performance in the series finale victory. Fellow seniors Anna Emswiler (4-for-7, 2B, 3B) and Morgan Scott (4-for-10, 3 2B) showed off their power while driving home two runs, while freshman Ciara Blankenship collected 4 hits and stole a pair of bases. Five different Jackets saw time in the circle, led by Devyn Hamilton and Madelyn Hopper's 8.2 innings of work.

Game 1 - Rio Grande 12, Defiance 3 (5 inn.)
Defiance started with a 3-run first inning beginning with an RBI double by senior Morgan Scott. Madison Guggenbiller and Ciara Blankenship each knocked in runs to complete the opening inning. However, the Red Storm answered with 12 unanswered runs beginning with 4 in the first and 4 more in the second. Taighen Zipfel got the start in the circle and shouldered 7 of 12 runs, 5 of which were earned. Madelyn Hopper pitched her first collegiate game in relief, tossing 2.2 innings while letting up Rio Grande's last 5 runs.

Game 2 - Rio Grande 10, Defiance 2 (5 inn.)
Another good start was outpaced in the second game of Friday's doubleheader. Down 2-0 through one inning, Allison Stinson and Emma Linn delivered back-to-back RBI hits to even the score, 2-2, in the second. The Red Storm worked a bases-loaded walk against DC starter Devyn Hamilton in the bottom of the frame. Hamilton kept Rio Grande off the board in the third, but big innings in the fourth and fifth lifted the Red Storm to an 8-run lead to end the game via the run rule.

Game 3 - WVU Tech 6, Defiance 4
Defiance overcame an early 3-0 deficit to tie the game with a 3-run fourth, but let up single runs over the final 3 innings to lose a 2-run contest. Hopper started the rally with a pinch-hit, RBI groundout to set up Anna Emswiler for a two-run triple to tie the game. The Bears answered with a lead-off triple that came in on a groundout to break the tie. A leadoff error in the sixth led to another run to pad WVU Tech's lead before Emma Linn got one back in the home half of the inning on an RBI single to left. DC had the tying run at the plate in the seventh but were unable to produce the breakthrough hit.

Game 4 - Defiance 8, WVU Tech 0
The Yellow Jackets capped off the weekend with a breakout effort on both sides. Madelyn Hopper held the Bears to just 2 hits over 6 shutout innings with 7 strikeouts and no walks. The freshman allowed a single in the first and second innings and faced just one over the minimum the rest of the day contest due to a hit batter in the fourth. Offensively, Defiance walloped 12 hits and scored 8 times, starting with multiple runs in the first and second frames. DC struck first on a bases loaded walk by Scott, followed by RBI knocks from Linn and Hopper. In the second, Allison Stinson whacked a 2-run double to increase the lead to 5-0. Defiance struck again for 3 runs in the sixth to invoke the run rule, which came about after a 2-run single by Catherine Trebley and ended on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly off the bat of Madison Guggenbiller.

UP NEXT
Weather permitting, the Yellow Jackets are slated to play either Tuesday against Bethel, Thursday at Indiana Wesleyan or next Sunday against Indiana South Bend before taking off to Florida beginning on March 8.

-JACKETS-