PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- The first game took some dramatics and there were elements to battle in the second game, but UPIKE took both ends of its Mid-South Conference opening doubleheader against Kentucky Christian on Thursday.
Game 1
The first game of the afternoon went a bit longer than expected, needing international tie-breaker rules to take place in a 3-2, 10-inning win for Pikeville.
UPIKE was able to get the win despite the offense lying relatively dormant, getting just five hits off KCU pitcher Lora Thompson. The Bears' first hit became the first run of the game in unique fashion. Jordan Gentry led off the first with an infield single, she then strung together a stolen base and came around to score on two wild pitches.
Outside of one tough inning, UPIKE starter Megan Claypoole was dominant in her third win of the season. She threw all ten innings, giving up just seven hits and striking out 10 batters. That one tough inning came in the third, when the Knights connected for three hits in the inning, the last a two-run single from Jade Spurlock.
That lead would stand for KCU until the fifth inning when UPIKE scored another unique run. Haley Karr got the inning started with a walk, but then Jordan Gentry's bunt turned into a fiasco as an error allowed her to reach. The error advanced Karr to third, but Gentry misjudged the error and got caught in a rundown, which distracted the Knights defense enough for Karr to score. To make matters worse, Gentry successfully retreated to first.
Neither team was able to score until the international tie-breaker rule kicked in in the 10th inning and put a runner on second to lead off the inning. KCU advanced their runner to third with a sacrifice bunt. The Knights thought it had the go-ahead run after Katerina Anthony hit a laser up the middle, but Claypoole made a wild grab for the second out. Claypoole then forced a lazy flyball to end the inning.
UPIKE also tried to start its inning with a sacrifice bunt, but MacKenzie Pawlak ended up reaching on the bunt, while Gentry moved up to third. Haley Osborne then walked off the game as Gentry beat out the throw home on a fielder's choice to start the doubleheader sweep.
Game 2
The second game of the day was nothing like the first in that UPIKE struck early and often offensively through light snowfall in a 6-2 win.
KCU scored first in the top of the first, but UPIKE struck right back with a run of its own in the bottom of the first. Megan Claypoole got her first RBI of the day on a single to right to score Kelsey White.
UPIKE then widened its lead with a three-run second inning. The Bears strung together five hits with RBIs from Gentry, White, and Osborne. Pikeville's 12 hits in the game were a season high, and eight of the nine starting batters recorded a hit.
The Bears widened its lead even further in the fourth with a two-RBI double from Claypoole for her second and third RBIs of the game.
Meanwhile, Bears pitcher Hannah Skaggs was dealing. She gave up just one hit through the first six innings and struck out six. She got herself in a bit of trouble in the seventh with three hits, but limited the damage to just one run to earn her second win of the season.
UP NEXT
Weather permitting, the Knights and Bears will play two more Friday afternoon. If they don't play, UPIKE's next game will be on Sunday as the Bears host a three-way doubleheader with Alice Lloyd and Rochester College.
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