MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Four straight hits in the seventh inning earned the Goshen College softball team the fourth-winningest season in school history Saturday afternoon as the Maple Leafs split a Crossroads League doubleheader with Bethel College at the Pilots' Gardner Field.

Alexis Carpenter went the distance for her eighth win of the season, surpassing her 2017 total, in a 6-3 Goshen win to start the day before the Pilots won the nightcap 11-6.

Rianna Koteles led Goshen (15-28-1, 7-17-1) with two doubles, two runs and two steals in the opener, which also saw Candace Sutter score twice. Bethel (4-32, 3-25) got four hits from Mahri Younger and two from Shelby Prows.

The Pilots opened the game with a groundout to third base before four straight singles and a Prows sacrifice fly put them up 2-0 with two down in the first. Bethel also loaded the bases in the second inning without scoring before the Maple Leafs found the scoreboard.

Goshen built a virtual picket fence on the scoreboard, posting three straight 1's from the third to the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead. The middle run was the product of three Bethel errors and saw pinch-runner Emily Namisnak score to level matters in the fourth. The other two tallies came home on hits that scored previous baserunners, with a Koteles double scoring Sutter in the third and a Sandra Rodriguez two-bagger bringing in Koteles in the fifth.

The Maple Leafs left runners on base in each scoring inning, however, a feat they would regret when Hunter Brummett's bases-loaded groundout brought in a third Pilot run in the sixth. That regret quickly shifted, however, when BC left two runners in scoring position in the sixth and one on in the seventh.

Sutter led off the Goshen seventh with a single and stole second base, putting her in position to score on Brianna Sherman's pinch-hit single to right moments later. Koteles and Rayna Moraga each followed that with RBI hits as well, prompting Bethel to change pitchers after three runs scored before the first out. The reliever retired her first three batters, but the damage had been done as GC set the 6-3 final score.

Goshen's 15th win marked the first time since 2003 and the fifth time in 25 seasons that the Maple Leafs have reached that plateau: the 2000 team also had exactly 15 victories, while the 2001 squad holds the single-season record with 24 wins.

The bulk of the scoring in game two came in the fifth inning, a 37-minute slugfest that included 11 runs, 19 batters and eight hits while taking as much time as the first three innings combined. Goshen turned a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead before Bethel responded with six runs of its own for a 9-6 edge.

GC's six hits all came from different players, getting a solo home run from Rodriguez and a Leah Herrman double. Bethel finished with 17 hits, including four from Younger and three apiece by three other players, with Younger driving in three runs and scoring four. Each team used three pitchers in the offensive outburst.

Rodriguez's second homer in as many days came on the second pitch of the second inning and sailed over the left-center field fence. Bethel tied the score in the third on a bases-loaded walk to Hannah Haines while the Pilots took the lead in the fourth on hits from Bethany Hogg and Hunter Brummett.

Goshen checked off five of the seven ways to put runners on base in its half of the fifth with a hit, a walk, a hit batter, a fielder's choice and a fielding error. The sequence also included a second hit after the walk and a second walk before the fielder's choice: the former loaded the bases as Brianna Sherman singled, while the latter free pass from Namisnak scored McKinzi Vega to tie the score.

Cassandra Espinoza put the Maple Leafs in front with a fielder's choice for the first out: she stole the now-open base before taking third on the wild pitch that knocked in Crapser. Koteles lofted a fly ball to center that allowed Espinoza to score on the ensuing error before two straight batters went down to end the inning.

Bethel's six-run output was more straightforward—a walk followed by six straight hits—but also more maddening, since all of it unfolded after two outs started the inning. Younger and Caris Brewer each had two-RBI hits as the Pilots took a three-run lead. BC tacked on two more runs in the sixth to close out the scoring.

Goshen closes its four-game weekend road trip on Sunday with a visit to Marian University in Indianapolis. The Maple Leafs and Knights face off at 1 p.m. for a doubleheader.