Rio Grande Sports Information
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Macy Kise drove in five runs in a game one and then added six RBI in game two as the University of Rio Grande rolled to a pair of mercy rule-shortened wins over Defiance College, Friday afternoon, in non-conference softball action at a wind-blown Little Creek Park.
The RedStorm evened their season mark at 3-3 with a 12-3 triumph in the opener and a 10-2 victory in the back end of the twinbill. Both games were stopped in the fifth inning.
The doubleheader served as the season-opening contests for the Yellow Jackets.
Game one saw Rio Grande score four times in each of the first two innings to erase an early 3-0 deficit.
The RedStorm tacked on a single run in the third inning before adding on three markers in the fourth.
Kise, a freshman from Milford Center, Ohio, had a two-run triple in the first, an RBI single in the second and a two-run single in the fourth.
Sophomore Lindzie Runions (Poca, WV) was 3-for-3 in the victory, while junior Nigella Reck (Covington, OH) had two hits - including a triple and an inside-the-park home run - and senior Natalie Bates (Vandalia, OH) was 2-for-3 with an RBI double.
Senior Meg McCallum (Belmont, Ontario, Canada) allowed five hits and the three runs over five innings, while walking two and fanning five.
Taighen Zipfel started and lost for Defiance. She allowed six hits and seven runs - five earned - over 1-1/3 innings.
Morgan Scott had a double and drove in a run for the Yellow Jackets.
Rio took a 2-0 first inning lead in game two thanks to a two-run single by Kise, but Defiance scored twice in the second inning to forge at 2-all tie.
The RedStorm regained the lead for good in the home second on a bases-loaded walk to Kise before invoking the eight-run mercy rule by scoring three times in the fourth and four times in the bottom of the fifth.
Reck had a run-scoring ground-rule double and Kise had an RBI groundout in the fourth, while a sacrifice fly by junior Kendyl Moss (Cincinnati, OH) and a two-run single by Kise highlighted the fifth inning surge.
Freshman Adelyn Wolfe (Lancaster, OH) added two hits in the win, while freshman Meredith Pieratt (Eaton, OH) allowed six hits and two runs over five innings to earn her first collegiate win.
Devyn Hamilton started and lost for Defiance, allowing six hits and six runs - only two of which were earned - over four innings.
Emma Linn had two hits, including a double, while Scott and Allison Stinson also had doubles for the Yellow Jackets.
Rio Grande returns to action on Saturday with another non-conference doubleheader against Bluefield (Va.) University.
Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Little Creek Park Field A.
