ALBION, Mich. - The 2024 Goshen softball season started with a bang on Friday afternoon as the Maple Leafs dominated Albion College 6-1 and 13-1. Game two was won by mercy rule in five innings.

Game One
The games against Albion, a Division III school, were a late add after Goshen's trip to Pikeville, Kentucky, was canceled due to the weather forecast. Alisyn Catenacci was Goshen's starter for game one. But while up to bat in the top of the first, she reached base on an error, which scored Kaylee Kates from third. In the third, Carissa Fillingame hit a two-RBI double to center field to make it 3-0.

On the mound, Catenacci allowed just two hits in five innings pitched. She gave up one earned run while striking out four.

Albion walked in a run with the bases loaded in the fourth, but that would be their lone run in the game. Goshen added three runs in the fifth from an RBI single off the bat of Esme Pico and a two-RBI single from Bianca Diamond. Freshman Camryn Barrows of Apple Valley, California, pitched the final two innings in her Maple Leaf debut. She didn't allow any hits or runs and struck out three of the six batters she faced.

Fillingame was 3-4 with two RBIs and a run. Diamond had two RBIs and Ella Mcleod was 2-4. Albion had seven errors, while Goshen had none.

Game Two
The Goshen offense scored in every inning of game two, with three runs each in the first, second, third and fourth innings. The Leafs started the game with a single, a stolen base, a walk, an RBI single, a stolen base, a sacrifice fly, a stolen base, a single and a stolen base.

The Leafs would end the game with nine stolen bases - their most in a game since March 13, 2021, when they defeated Ohio Christian 6-3. Ellie Van Heerde had two stolen bases in that game.

Goshen kept the offense rolling through the rest of the game while Grace Schmitt took care of business on the mound. In three innings, she allowed one earned run and three hits. Barrows pitched the next inning and had a second appearance without allowing a hit. Pico was called in for the fifth inning and didn't allow any hits - striking out two and walking none.

Three players had three hits each for Goshen - Kaylee Kates, Bianca Diamond and Kyra Wilson. Wilson had a triple - the fifth of her career. Freshman Rachel Kates of Gilbert, Arizona, and sister of Kaylee, was 2-2 with three runs scored, two walks and an RBI. Mcleod was 2-3 and Catenacci had three RBIs.

The Leafs had 16 hits and the Britons had three.

The Leafs will play ten games over five days as a part of the Space Coast Spring Games in Melbourne, Florida, at the USSSA Space Coast Complex. Those games are from February 26 through March 1.