GOSHEN, Ind. - For the second straight Connect Goshen Day, the Maple Leafs softball team defeated a ranked IWU softball team at home. Goshen defeated #22 IWU in game one in extra innings before losing game two 12-4. Bianca Diamond had five hits in game one.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the first, Alyssa McDonald walked to bring in the first GC run. The next batter was Peyton Foreman, who hit a two-RBI double to make it 3-0. McDonald was up to bat with the bases loaded again in the second inning, and this time was hit by a pitch to bring Kaylee Kates home from third. In the third, Kates had an RBI single to increase the lead to 5-0.

While Goshen was the only team that scored in the first three innings, IWU was the only team that scored in the next four. They put up two in the fourth, one in the fifth, and one in the sixth to pull within one. Makenna Waddell homered in the seventh inning to tie it at five. The Leafs couldn't score in the bottom half of the inning after getting a runner in scoring position, and the game went to extras.

Neither team scored in the eighth, but Goshen ended their streak of five scoreless innings in the ninth. With two outs, Shea VanScoter doubled and Lilliana Herrera came in as a pinch runner. Bianca Diamond singled to score Herrera and end the game with a 6-5 Goshen win.

VanScoter threw all nine innings in the circle and allowed two earned runs on eight hits. She had six strikeouts and three walks. Bianca Diamond had a 5-6 outing with five singles, an RBI, a run and a stolen base. It was her sixth multi-hit game in the last seven contests. Kates, VanScoter and Foreman all had multiple hits in the game.

Game two was close until the visitors opened it up in the final two innings.

Down 4-0, the Leafs scored for the first time in the bottom of the fourth when Mckenzie Richardson came home on an error by the second baseman. Two batters later, Alyssa McDonald hit a two-run homer to bring the Leafs within a run.

The Wildcats had two fifth-inning home runs and two sixth-inning RBI doubles which helped take them to a 12-3 lead. Grace Schmitt hit a home run for the Leafs in the bottom of the sixth, but IWU won by run rule after six innings.

Alisyn Catenacci had the loss, going five innings as the starter. Six different players had Goshen's six hits in the game.

Indiana Wesleyan is second in the Crossroads League with an 18-8 conference record and 29-11 overall record. Goshen (22-17, 14-12 CL) is at Mount Vernon Nazarene on Thursday, April 20, with the first game starting at 3:00 pm. These games were originally going to be played on Friday.