Monday afternoon, the softball team took on the nationally-ranked Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats in a Crossroads League matchup.  IWU struck early with three runs in the first inning and then late with four in the fifth in the first game of the doubleheader at the Goshen College Softball Complex. The Maple Leafs got a run back in the bottom of the first when senior Melanie Meyer singled, stole second, then moved to third on a fly ball before first-year Brooke Maes brought her home with a ground ball.

Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs were unable to get to IWU pitcher Janessa Guevara after that, gathering three singles and a walk – one base-runner per inning – the rest of the four frames on the way to a 9-1 mercy-rule loss.

In the second game, Goshen scored early after Meyer led off with a single and took third base on a fielding error.  Maes again drove her in, this time with a single to left field.

In the circle, sophomore Jessica Cagigas shut down the Wildcats in the first two innings before giving up a leadoff home run, a double and a single in the third.  Maes was able to tie the game with a two-run homer down the left-field line in the bottom of the inning.  She finished the day 3-for-3 with three runs batted in.

But for the rest of the contest, IWU was strong and scored two in the fourth, two in the fifth and five in the sixth to once again force the run rule with a 12-3 lead.

Tuesday at Huntington, the Foresters started on top with three runs on five hits in the first inning. Meyer was able to get two of the runs back in the third with a double that scored juniors Abby Flickner and Sam Langley.

Goshen was held hitless the rest of the game, by Ariel Sheets and Emily Puterbaugh.  Huntington scored seven runs in the final two innings for a 10-2, six-inning win.

The Foresters posted three runs in the third inning of game two to take a 4-0 lead.  Goshen was able to scratch across single runs in the top of the fourth and fifth innings, but Huntington got them back in the bottom of both innings. The result was a 6-2 loss for the Leafs.

Complete and official stats can be seen at GoLeafs.net.