UPLAND, Ind. — Alisyn Catenacci and Stacey Landry each went deep in a doubleheader and the Goshen College softball team brought the tying run to the plate twice in the final inning on Friday before losing 10-2 to Taylor University at Gudakunst Field.
Cassandra Espinoza added a pair of hits for the Maple Leafs (14-28, 4-22 Crossroads League), who led the second game after half an inning and left runners on first and third in the top of the seventh.
Taylor (32-12, 18-8) kept its hold on third place in the Crossroads League even as Mount Vernon Nazarene swept Spring Arbor, with Emma West and Kara Tucker doubling in the second game after all of the runs came in big innings in the opener.
The Trojans retired Goshen's first nine batters in order, and in the interim they loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the second. After a strikeout, Ashton Whitman forced in the first run with a walk and Caitlyn Grim lofted a fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly. But an error in the outfield led to 5 unearned runs, capped by a 3-run homer from Aleyah Rastetter that ran the lead to 7-0 and chased Catenacci from the circle.
Catenacci's 2-run homer in the fourth accounted for all of Goshen's scoring in the opener and the Trojans scored three more unearned runs in the fourth to trigger the run rule after 5 innings. Maddi Evans won the game in the circle with 4 innings of 1-hit softball.
In the second game, Rianna Koteles singled with one out in the first and the Maple Leafs took the lead two batters later on a Catenacci single. The lead lasted two batters into the bottom of the inning as West led off with a hit and Rastetter knocked her in. The Trojans took the lead on a double-play grounder and ran the lead to 3-1 on Evans' double to score Nicole Brindle in the third.
Goshen got the run back on a one-out solo shot from Landry in the fifth before Alexi Clay made it 5-2 with a two-run, two-out single in the bottom of that inning.
The Maple Leafs saved their best rally for the last inning, and it almost worked. The first three Maple Leaf batters reached base on an Ashley Glazer single, a Jolie Groeneveld force play and an Espinoza infield hit. After Landry walked to load the bases, Miranda Hipolito's pinch-hit sacrifice fly scored Groeneveld to pull the team within 5-3 but also left no room for error with two outs. Vega struck out swinging to end the game.
The Maple Leafs continue their run of 10 games in eight days on Saturday, when they will head in the other direction geographically and try to mimic that movement with the result. Goshen is slated to visit Spring Arbor University in Michigan for a doubleheader at 1 p.m.
