Softball swept by Mt. Pleasant

The Washington Demons did not make it easy for seventh-ranked Mt. Pleasant in Thursday night?s doubleheader at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex. The Panthers, however, were able to escape with a couple of one-run conference wins, 2-1 and 7-6, to stay undefeated in the SEC.

The first game was a pitchers? dual between Mt. Pleasant?s Bailey Johnson and Washington?s Molly Sparks.

The Panthers were able to get eight hits off of Sparks, but the freshman was able to escape jam after jam to keep the Demons in it. Mt. Pleasant scored one run in the first inning and one in the third, but could not get anym more in game one.

?We really emphasized getting strike one and working from there,? Washington head coach Ben Obermann said. ?That?s two consecutive quality outings for her and she?s only going to get better. We are really pleased with how she threw last night. She worked ahead in the count and got hitters off balance.?

Johnson threw a complete seven innings and gave up just one run (unearned) on a wild pitch in the fourth inning, scoring Jessie Buchholz who reached on a single.

It looked as if Mt. Pleasant was going to run away with game two. After a Washington run in the first inning, the Panthers scored three in the first, one in the second to take an early 4-1 lead.

After a few scoreless innings, the Panthers added three more in the fifth inning, two coming on a towering homerun by Johnson to right-center field. Mt. Pleasant led, 7-1, going into the sixth inning.

In the top of the sixth, the Demon bats came alive, scoring four runs, with Megan Mitchell opening the inning with a single.

A fielders choice from Allison Rebling, followed by a Halle Leyden single and a Mackenzie Knutson walk, highlighted the inning, while Buchholz reached on an error in the frame, making it 7-5.

Mitchell used a leadoff double in the seventh, later scoring on a pair of groundouts from Rebling and Leyden.

Back-to-back two-out singles from Knutson and Kenzie Duwa brought up Buchholz in the seventh, but the Demons couldn?t complete the comeback.

?We are close to getting over that hump,? Obermann said. ?We had our chances and it?s nice to see this team believe that they can win late. We want to see that out of them. No matter what the score is, we continue to fight.?

Washington fell to 2-12 overall and 1-7 in the SEC. They will be playing in the Fairfield tournament today with their first-round game against Cardinal starting at approximately 4 p.m.