MARION, Ind. — The Goshen College softball team dropped a pair of contests to a nationally-ranked opponent on Tuesday, losing 9-1 and 6-5 to Indiana Wesleyan University at Wildcat Field in Marion.
Miranda Hipolito homered for the Maple Leafs and Rianna Koteles and Edith Vega each had run-scoring doubles in the second game, but the NAIA 10th-ranked Wildcats laughed last with a go-ahead double in the bottom of the sixth that enabled them to keep pace with league-leading Marian.
IWU (29-5, 18-4) did all its scoring in threes in the first game, with Rebecca Schrad launching a homer in the first inning before Edith Vega singled and scored Bernadette Quintero for Goshen (14-23, 4-17) in the top of the third.
Kamryn Buck and Becca Wyatt singled to knock in runs that made it 6-0 in the Wildcats in the bottom of that inning. In the sixth, Wyatt scored on Addie Benham's double and Chloe Tragresser doubled with one out to end the game on the mercy rule.
IWU outhit Goshen 10-1 and half of those hits went for extra bases. Tragresser led all players with 2 doubles and Buck added 2 RBIs.
Alyssa Wagner threw 94 pitches in the circle, striking out 13 and allowing 1 hit for her 15th win. Quintero and Alisyn Catenacci pitched for GC.
In the nightcap, IWU jumped in front with a four-run second inning on the back of another Tragresser double. Hipolito homered and then scored the next run in the third inning when she lofted a fly to short that allowed Ashley Glazer to cross the plate.
Tragresser scored Jennah Yost on a single to center in the fourth, opening a 5-2 lead, but a two-out rally in the sixth inning tied the game for the Maple Leafs. After two force plays, Quintero singled to bring the tying run to the plate and Koteles, pinch-hitting for the second straight day, doubled into the gap to score two runs. Vega added a double after a pitching change to tie the score at 5.
In the bottom of the inning, Wehrle's two-out double put the Wildcats back on top and GC went down in order in the seventh.
Mia Pawelski did the bulk of Goshen's pitching, entering with one out in the second and giving up 2 runs on 3 hits the rest of the way. Mckenzey Ridge got the win in relief of Danielle Munn for the Wildcats.
At the plate, Glazer had two hits including a triple and Vega and Hipolito each knocked in a pair. Tragresser had three hits and Wehrle knocked in two runs for IWU.
Goshen is idle for most of the week before returning to the John Ingold Athletic Complex on Friday to host Mount Vernon Nazarene. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. as the doubleheader marks the two-thirds point of the Crossroads League season.
