GOSHEN, Ind. — Rianna Koteles homered three times over the course of a doubleheader Tuesday, setting a Goshen College program record with 19 career home runs, and the Maple Leaf softball team continued its push for a Crossroads League playoff spot by splitting a doubleheader with Huntington University as they lost 8-7 and won 5-4 in a pair of games that ended with the winning run on base at the John Ingold Athletic Complex.
Koteles went yard twice in the opener, tying the record set by Candy Feare in 2002 and matched by Brooke Maes in 2018, then set the record by herself with a fifth-inning solo shot in game two. The senior wasn't done, either. With Goshen trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh, her single to center started the rally that led the Maple Leafs to two runs as Mia Pawelski singled home pinch-runner Olivia Gibson and Ellie Van Heerde hit a sacrifice fly to score Cassandra Espinoza.
Ashley Glazer also caused the softball to exit the premises, launching a 2-run homer in the first inning of game one, and Alisyn Catenacci added four hits on the day. Van Heerde took the win after allowing 1 run on 2 hits in 3 2/3 innings of relief and adding a single at the plate.
The Maple Leafs (17-29, 7-23) also broke their record for walks in a season, drawing three in the opener to tie the mark of 129 set two seasons ago before drawing two more in the finale to extend the record to 131. Edith Vega had four of the team's five walks, including both the tying and go-ahead free passes, and set the single-season mark with 26 walks by passing Brooke Maes' 2016 total of 23.
Huntington (25-23, 14-16), which is locked into the conference tournament and will finish somewhere between fourth and seventh, jumped on the Maple Leafs in the opening inning of game one, putting seven straight runners on base and scoring five times including a 3-run homer from Kaela Robey. When Glazer responded with a 2-run blast in the bottom of the inning, it was clear that neither team was going down quietly (and the 18-mile-per-hour wind blowing straight out may have had something to do with it).
GC brought the tying run to the plate in the first inning after a Catenacci single and a Stacey Landry walk, but nothing came of it. A Koteles single scored Jolie Groeneveld in the second inning to make the score 5-3 and both trail runners moved into scoring position, but Catenacci's fly to center found a glove on the warning track and the Foresters kept the lead.
Huntington extended the lead in the fourth with a two-out rally as Jada Crofoot singled before back-to-back RBI doubles from Robey and Sophia Beachy. Koteles added a homer in the fifth to make it 7-4 before Huntington added an unearned run on Beachy's RBI single in the sixth to take an 8-4 lead.
Koteles led off the bottom of the seventh with a homer before Catenacci and Pawelski singled to bring the tying run to the plate. Landry grounded out, scoring a run, and Van Heerde singled to move Pawelski to third. Another RBI groundout from Cassandra Espinoza drew GC within 8-7 but also left the team down to its last out, and after fouling off three pitches, Groeneveld flied out to center.
Bernadette Quintero pitched the last 6 innings for GC, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits. Meghan Fretz went the distance for Huntington, allowing 6 earned runs on 11 hits.
GC crept in front in game two, scoring on three singles in the first but leaving two runners on base before allowing an identical inning to Huntington in the top of the third. Vega's record-setting walk set up an unearned run on an error in the bottom of the third to put the Leafs up 2-1.
That lead lasted exactly one pitch into the top of the fourth, as Beachy homered to tie the game before Huntington took the lead with a pair of doubles. Goshen loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but stranded ducks on the pond before Beachy's single gave Huntington a 4-2 lead in the fifth.
Van Heerde allowed one hit to her last eight batters, keeping the Maple Leafs in the game, and Koteles cut the deficit in half with her record-setting homer. She also singled with one out in the seventh, putting the tying run on base to let a Catenacci double drive pinch-runner Gibson into scoring position. One single and one fly ball later, the Maple Leafs had won.
Koteles and Pawelski each had two hits for GC while Beachy, Crofoot and Adelyn Harsh did the same for HU. Five of the Foresters' nine hits went for extra bases. Hersh went the complete game for the loss, giving up 4 earned runs on 9 hits and striking out 8.
Despite picking up a win against a team higher up the standings, Goshen gained no ground on the team it is chasing in the Crossroads League table as Bethel University split a doubleheader with Spring Arbor University. BU is 8-24 with four games left in conference play; GC is 7-23 with six games left. One of the two schools will make the league tournament unless Grace, which is 4-20 with eight games left, passes them both by winning percentage.
Goshen is scheduled to host Bethel on Thursday, April 29 for Senior Day in the team's final guaranteed home games of the season. However, this date and time may be changed due to the forecast of inclement weather later in the week. Stay tuned to GoLeafs.net for the latest updates.
