Tartans Split Series with Hiram

(HIRAM, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University softball team traveled to Hiram College for a doubleheader on Wednesday with the Tartans the home team in both contests. The Tartans dropped a nine inning contest in game one by a 5-4 score before topping the Terriers 7-6 in six innings due to darkness in game two. The Tartans are now 15-6-1 for the season with Hiram moving to 24-15.

Game 1 - Hiram 5 Tartans 4 - 9 innings

The Tartans trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning when they tied the game by stringing together four hits. Freshman Kiera Boucher (Ridgewood, N.J. / Ridgewood) tripled with runners on second and third to score the first two runs of the inning and then scored when junior Megan Hu ( Katy, Texas / Seven Lakes) singled up the middle to record her third straight game with an RBI.

The eighth inning began with a runner on second for the Terriers and the first batter doubled to right center to score the runner and take the lead. Junior Scotty McGee (Huntington Beach, Calif. / Huntington Beach), who went the distance for the Tartans, then struck out the next three batters stranding the runner at third.

The Tartans answered right away in their half of the eighth inning when sophomore Isabel Bermudez (Austin, Texas / Dripping Springs) singled to center field to score sophomore Piper Johnson (Riverside, Calif. / Martin Luther King) who was put on second to start the inning. The Terriers then got out of the inning with a tie as senior Kaitlyn Hager was able to shutdown the rest of the offense and leave a pair of runners stranded.

Hiram scored the eventual winning run in the top of the ninth when senior Giselle Bahena singled to left field with two outs to score the lead runner with two on. Bahena had three of the Terriers seven hits against McGee while McGee struckout 11 batters for the game.

Game 2 - Tartans 7 Hiram 6 - 6 innings

Hiram took an early 3-0 lead by the second inning before the Tartans claimed a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior Audrey Pederson (Bedford, N.H. / Bedford) led off with a triple and junior Summer Faille (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Westlake) walked and then stole second. With two outs, junior Emily Song (Mount Arlington, N.J. / Roxbury) singled to score Pederson. After Faille scored on a wild pitch, Boucher singled up the middle to score Song from third. Boucher advanced twice via wild pitches and then scored on a single by Hu, who extended her hitting streak to 10 games and has four straight multi-hit games.

Hiram tied the game in the fifth and took a two-run lead in the top of the sixth before the Tartans added three uneared runs in the bottom of the sixth to take back the lead. Boucher doubled in Song who opened the inning by reaching on an throwing error by the second baseman. Boucher and Hu, who reached on a hit-by-pitch, both scored when Faille put the ball in play and reached on an error by the shortstop.

With three on and two outs in the top of the seventh for the Terriers, the game was called due to darkness with the Tartans earning the victory. Freshman Amanda Smith (New Cumberland, Pa. / Trinity) collected her fourth win of the season pitching an inning and two-thirds in relief.   

The Tartans will close their regular season on Friday, May 7 when they host Penn St.-Altoona for two games on beginning at 3:00 p.m.