GOSHEN, Ind. — Katherine Boyer's two-run seventh-inning single sent the Goshen College softball team into extra innings Wednesday evening as the Maple Leafs played to a 3-3 tie with Mount Vernon Nazarene University at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.

Inclement weather prompted the umpires to stop play after eight innings of the scheduled doubleheader. By Crossroads League rule, the tied game should be suspended and played before the rescheduled second game. However, with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season and the two schools out of available makeup dates, the first game stands as a tie and the second game will not be played.

The threat of rain prompted the game to start 12 minutes before the slated 3 p.m. hour, and the Cougars (18-9-1, 10-5-1) wasted little time starting the scoring after a leadoff single from Maddie Johnston. She moved around the bases 60 feet at a time on three straight ground balls, scoring on a fielder's choice from Savannah Richards as the second out was recorded.

Goshen (14-25-1, 6-14-1) leveled affairs in the second inning after a leadoff walk by Rianna Koteles, who stole two bases and scored on a Sandra Rodriguez single. The hit was the first for Rodriguez in more than two weeks as she returned to the lineup for the first time since April 2.

MVNU retook the lead in the fourth inning when Alyson Adams and Courtney Knepper strung two hits together to put runners on second and third with one out. Maple Leaf pitcher Alexis Carpenter didn't allow another hit in the inning, but the visitors scored twice anyway on a throwing error and a popout to the shortstop.

Goshen stranded five runners over the next three innings as the lead persisted to the seventh. The Cougars put the leadoff batter on base three straight times, with the Maple Leafs escaping the sixth inning after a double-play ground ball to shortstop Courtney Crapser.

Brooke Maes led off the bottom of the seventh with a single before Crapser's fly ball found grass deep in the left-center gap for a double. Rayna Moraga drew a pinch-hit walk to load the bases, leaving the tying run on second and winning run on first with no outs. Following a pop-up to third, Boyer knocked in the first two runs with a hit to center, but two straight outs ended the inning before GC could come all the way back for the win.

Neither team got a hit in the extra frame, although both teams had a baserunner: Meghan May was hit by a Carpenter pitch leading off the top of the inning and Maes worked a two-out walk.

GC worked out eight hits to MVNU's seven: Crapser's two doubles led the team and Leah Herrman added a pair of singles. Johnston and Samantha Collier each hit safely twice for the Cougars.

Both starting pitchers went the distance, but neither received a decision as there are none in a tie game. Carpenter allowed 10 baserunners and two earned runs while striking out four on 121 pitches. Her opposite number, Sarah Boue', made 134 deliveries while giving up eight hits, five walks and three runs.

The tie wasn't the first in Maple Leaf or Crossroads League history—Goshen and Taylor played to a 9-9 deadlock as the sun set on April 2, 1998—but it was the first for GC in more than two decades since then. Wednesday's game marked the first tie between any two teams in conference play since at least 2001: complete standings for previous seasons were not immediately available.

Goshen returns to action Friday afternoon for the first of four straight days of doubleheaders. The Maple Leafs welcome Taylor University to the Ingold Athletic Complex for their antepenultimate home date of the season, a twinbill that has itself been postponed twice. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.