GRAYSON, Ky. -- In the final regular-season tune-up before the postseason begins next week, the University of Pikeville softball team split at Kentucky Christian, winning the opener 3-1 before falling 9-5 in the nightcap.
The Bears, at 26-20 overall and 10-14 in MSC play, broke the single-season school record for wins, eclipsing the 25-win mark, which they had hit three times.
Attention now shifts to the Mid-South Conference Tournament where the sixth-seeded Bears will open up against No. 3 Georgetown on Friday in Bowling Green. Official bracket and game times are set to be announced Monday morning.
UPIKE and KCU were scheduled to meet again on Monday, but the conference decided to end the regular season for standings purposes on Sunday.
Seven different Pikeville players recorded a hit in the win over KCU (11-32, 6-20 MSC), but it was Megan Claypoole that provided the most fireworks as her home run to lead off the fourth inning gave UPIKE a 2-1 lead that it never relinquished.
Hannah Skaggs earned the win in the circle, allowing just one run and four hits with four strikeouts in a complete seven innings. Haley Osborne added a double as well to help Skaggs stay out in front.
Game two saw the Knights jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings and the Bears never recovered. The closest it got was 5-3 in the top of the fifth inning, but KCU added three more runs in the bottom of the frame to pull away.
Trailing 9-3 in the seventh, Pikeville tried to rally back with an RBI groundout by Kelsey White and RBI single by Osborne, but the threat ended on Hannah Absher's groundout with a runner on second.
Lee Collier hit a leadoff homer in the fifth to make it 5-2, but that was about it for excitement at the plate. Kitty Raymond and Haley Nicholas provided the only other extra-base hits for UPIKE with doubles as it was outhit 11-10 overall.
Raymond finished 3 for 4 and Chandley Kelly and Brynna Souels added two hits each.
Claypoole was handed the loss after scattering five hits for five runs with just one strikeout in three innings of work. Kendra Gannon finished the game, allowing four more runs on six hits without a strikeout.
McKenzie Vanover was on fire for the Knights in game two, going 3 for 3 with a home run, double and three RBIs. Samantha Mitchell, who went 2 for 3, hit a home run for KCU as well.
-UPIKE-
