MHS softball 6-0 in HOA after sweep

The Marion softball team improved to 6-0 in Heart of America league play with a sweep of Sedgwick Tuesday. The Warriors are 6-2 overall.

Marion came from behind to win Game 1, 8-7.

The Warriors trailed, 7-6, heading into the final frame. After Chloe Burkholder led with a single, Bailey Baker was hit by a pitch. Alli Molleker singled to center field to tie the game, and Baker scored the go-ahead run on the throw.

The Warriors worked around a one-out single by Sedgwick in the bottom of the seventh to claim the win.

“I knew that as soon as Chloe was able to put that ball in play and get a single out of it, that we were going to be golden,” coach Jennifer Felvus said. “You get these feelings. I’m like, ‘We’ve got it.’ I just knew we had it at that point.”

Both teams started quickly as the Warriors and Cardinals each scored four runs in the opening inning. Marion loaded the bases with no outs and scored via a fielder’s choice, a bases-loaded walk, a pop fly and a passed ball.

Sedgwick, however, answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning and later took the lead, 6-4, after four innings.

Marion scored one run in the fifth inning when Baker hit an RBI single and added one run in the sixth to tie the game on Laura Savage’s RBI double. But Sedgwick broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth, setting up the final inning.

Corrina Crabb was 3-for-5 at the plate. Savage and Molleker each had two RBIs.

Grace Overton (4-1) earned the pitching win. She scattered eight hits and seven runs (four earned) in seven innings. She walked five batters and struck out seven.

“(Grace) wants to be that force to be reckoned with, and she has a lot of desire and a lot of heart to play the game, and I think that it showed,” Felvus said.

Marion won Game 2, 10-5. The Warriors used a three-hit, five-run second inning to break what had been a 1-1 tie after the first inning of play. Three Warriors worked walks in the second inning, and Lindsey Sigel hit a two-run single.

Sedgwick scored a single run in the bottom half of the inning, then closed the gap to 6-5 with a four-hit, three-run bottom of the fifth.

“When it was 6-2, I was asking the girls for more runs, and we didn’t get those for a couple innings,” Felvus said. “We had to really play good defense to stay on top of it, and then they just answered.”

Marion pushed across four insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning, which was highlighted by Sigel’s RBI triple and Laura Savage’s two-run double.

After Sedgwick led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, Kourtney Hansen snagged a line drive and threw to first to complete the double play. An out at first on a dropped third strike ended the game.

“Kourtney made an incredible catch,” Felvus said. “It should’ve been a base hit. I don’t know how she got to it.”

Hansen was 4-for-5 at the plate and had one RBI. Sigel drove in three runs.

Chisholm Waner (2-1) earned the pitching win. She gave up six hits and five runs (two earned) in seven innings. She walked no one and struck out five batters.

“The girls really want it,” Felvus said. “They’re playing really well together. Games are fun. They’re enjoying the sport. And they answer. They answer because it’s just in them, and that’s what happened at Sedgwick both times.”

Coming—Marion was scheduled to host Ell-Saline Tuesday and will travel to Sterling Friday.

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