GOSHEN, Ind. — The Goshen College softball team christened the home portion of its 2021 season on Wednesday with a pair of victories, topping Trinity International University 7-3 and 10-2 at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.
Alisyn Catenacci blasted a 3-run homer in game two while getting the win in 4 1/3 innings in the circle. Rianna Koteles added two doubles and a single on the day while Jolie Groeneveld and Miranda Hipolito each contributed four hits.
Trinity International (2-4) took the first lead of the day in the top of the second inning of game one, getting back-to-back singles from Madison Lenzke and Waverly Miller before the latter hit eluded Goshen's defense and went all the way to the wall.
Goshen (6-4) tied the game in the third inning in eerily similar fashion, getting the single-error combination first before Groeneveld knocked in Hipolito. The Maple Leafs went on to load the bases but left them loaded rather than breaking the game open.
The floodgates opened in the fourth, when GC started the inning with four singles from the first five batters before a fielder's choice and stolen base moved both runners into scoring position. Koteles uncorked a double to right that turned a 3-1 lead into a 5-1 one, then took third on another error, but ended the inning there.
Kristin Storer's two-run homer in the fifth made GC pay for a leadoff walk, but the Maple Leafs got those runs back in the sixth. With Edith Vega on second base, Regan Sheipline dropped a bunt and beat the throw to first. Vega scored before the return throw to the plate and Sheipline started for second base, drawing another throw that sailed into the outfield and scored the other run.
Mia Pawelski finished her 98-pitch, 110-minute complete game with three straight outs in the top of the seventh. She retired nine batters by strikeout and allowed six hits in seven innings. Alyssa Frey and Hailey Baker split the pitching duties for the Trojans.
Goshen never trailed in game two after getting out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the second when a TIU runner was called for abandoning her base. After a single and a walk to start the bottom of inning, the Maple Leafs plated one run on a throwing error and added two more on a dropped fly.
The runs in the third inning were all earned when Bernadette Quintero led off with a walk, Hipolito singled and Catenacci nearly hit the center-field flagpole with her 3-run shot.
Storer added a 2-run homer out of the leadoff spot in the fifth, prompting Catenacci to give way to Rayna Moraga for the next five batters with Goshen up 6-2.
Five defensive outs were all the Maple Leafs would need thanks to a four-run sixth that invoked the run rule. Vega worked a one-out walk and took second on an error before Koteles added her second RBI double of the day. After Quintero singled to score two more runs, Olivia Gibson moved up the runners with a ground ball to the mound. Kyra Wilson followed that with a single up the middle, which prompted the gathered spectators to gather their trash and dispose of it in the appropriate receptacles on their way out of the facility at the direction of public-address announcer Madi Simmons.
The entire doubleheader took four hours and one minute and was played on a record-breakingly warm day in Michiana. Each game had a first-pitch temperature of 67 degrees and was played with the wind gusting out of the south at more than 25 miles per hour, which caused a brief delay when several paper cups blew out of the TIU dugout in the second inning of game two.
Goshen heads to Ohio this weekend for a four-game swing, playing twice against Lourdes University and twice against Ohio Christian University at the OCU Round Robin in Circleville. Each school will play each opponent once on Friday and then do it again on Saturday.
Goshen's contests begin at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday and 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday; the later start time is a result of daylight saving time kicking in overnight. Please remember to set your clocks forward an hour at the appropriate time or you will miss the first hour of Sunday's games.
