By: Michael MacEachern / Assistant Director of Athletics for Sports Communications
Young Harris College collected 29 hits as the sixth-ranked Mountain Lions swept a softball non-conference doubleheader from No. 25 University of Alabama in Huntsville at Bob Jones High School Wednesday (March 11) afternoon.
The Mountain Lions won the opener 12-11 before scoring 10 unanswered runs in the nightcap to take a 10-3 win.
Young Harris improved to 19-3, while the Chargers fell to 15-8. Young Harris opens its Peach Belt Conference schedule Saturday (March 14) when they face the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at E.D. Rivers Field.
In the opener, the Mountain Lions scored five times in the second inning to take a 5-2 lead. Maddie Urquiola drove in the first run with a bases-loaded walk before Emily Harris drove in another with a single through the left side. Morgan Curley drew a bases-loaded walk before Carly Rigsbee drove in the final two runs with a single to right-center,
The Chargers battled back to take a 6-5 lead in the third, but YHC put up a four spot in the fourth inning to take a 9-6 lead. Haylie Shope drove in the first two runs on a double to center before Katelynn Hodges and Urquiola had run-scoring hits.
Jill Torres gave the Mountain Lions a 12-6 lead an inning later when she smacked a three-run homer to left field. It was her third long ball of the season. UAH got five runs back in the bottom half of the inning to get within a run at 12-11.
Shope (8-0) earned the win in the circle, while Sam Davis pitched three scoreless innings to earn her first save,
Torres led the Mountain Lions' 13-hit attack with three hits, while Harris, Michalyn Bingham, and Hodges had two hits each.
UAH jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning of game two. The Mountain Lions got two of the runs back in the third as Curley had an RBI double to left-center field and Rigsbee drove in a run on a ground out.
The Mountain Lions broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning to take a 7-3 lead. Urquiola started the rally with a three-run homer to left-center field and Bingham and Torres added RBI singles. It was the team-leading sixth homer for Urquiola in 2020.
YHC added three insurance runs in the sixth. Bingham smacked a two-run homer - her fourth of the campaign - to center and Hodges drove in the final run with a double to right-center field.
Sam King (5-1) collected the win in the circle as she struck out five in six innings.
The YHC offense had 16 hits. Harris and Bingham led the way with three hits, while Rigsbee, Torres and Hodges added two hits apiece.