PULASKI, Tenn. -- The season's opening day didn't go as planned for Madonna softball as the Crusaders suffered a pair of setbacks on Friday (Feb. 12) at the Martin Methodist College Meltdown. The Crusaders fell in the opener to No. 8 Campbellsville, 7-3, before dropping game two by a 14-6 final to Grace (Ind.).
The Crusaders will attempt to brave frigid temperatures Saturday (Feb. 13) when they wrap up MMC Meltdown play against WHAC foe Indiana Tech at 1 p.m. ET in a non-conference contest.
GAME ONE – (8) Campbellsville 7, (RV) Madonna 3
Down 2-0 after three innings, the Crusaders took advantage of a Campbellsville error when Breanna Keethler (Flat Rock, Mich./Flat Rock High School) belted a deep two-run homerun in the top of the fourth inning to draw the Blue and Gold even with the nation's No. 8 team. Keethler's bomb brought around Nicky Salloum (Livonia, Mich./Churchill High School) who reached via error earlier in the inning.
The tie was short-lived as the No. 8 Tigers scored twice in the bottom half of the fourth before connecting on a three-run homerun of their own to pull away for the 7-3 victory.
Keethler was a tough out all game as the junior went a perfect 4-for-4, collecting half of the eight Crusader hits in the season-opening tilt. Fellow junior Morgan Thompson (Fort Gratiot, Mich./Port Huron Northern High School) recorded the only other RBI in the opener off of a single to left field that scored Erin Combs, who went 2-for-4 at the plate despite taking the loss as the starting pitcher.
Combs (Imlay City, Mich./Imlay City High School) struck out five while Paige Montague(Clio, Mich./Clio High School) came in to work a 1-2-3 sixth inning in relief.
GAME TWO – Grace 14, (RV) Madonna 6
Combs – the Crusaders' ERA leader in 2015 – started and was in the circle for one-and-a-third innings in game two before the Grace Lancers posted 12 early runs. None of the 12 runs were charged to Combs as the Crusaders defense racked up five early errors behind the junior pitcher.
Before the Lancers erupted for 12 runs, the Crusaders got off to a good start by posting three runs in the top half of the first inning on RBIs from Combs, Keethler and Mikey Kish (Allen Park, Mich./Allen Park High School). The Lancers added four runs in the bottom of the first and eight more in the second to take an early 12-3 lead.
Down nine, the Crusaders attempted to battle back in the middle innings before ultimately falling short in five innings, 14-6.
Kish paced the Crusaders with two hits and an equal amount of RBIs while the team's lone senior, Emma Cook (St. Clair, Mich./Marysville High School), posted two runs, one hit and one RBI.
Montague and Erika Randall (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson High School) finished the pitching duties for the Crusaders after the Lancers early offensive burst. The pair combined for 3 2/3 of seven-hit, one earned-run ball. Errors were the theme throughout the second game as the Crusaders' staff was charged for only one of the 14 Lancer runs in the nightcap.
