PULASKI, Tenn. -- The Martin Methodist Softball team pushed its record to 11-3 with a 3-1 non-conference weekend performance. The RedHawks split Friday afternoon meetings with Missouri Baptist and swept Taylor University at neutral-site Cumberland University with a 4-0 victory, and a come-from-behind 8-7 win to close out the weekend.
Brittany Bishop suffered her first loss of the season on Friday after hurling a two-run game that scattered just 6 hits from Missouri Baptist. The RedHawks totaled just five hits in the loss, including a 1-for-1 performance from Nikki Hodges who scored the lone run for MMC on a Dharriana Familia double that was a part of her 2-for-3 offering at the dish.
MMC bounced back in the second game of the twinbill with an 8-3 victory credited to Ashton Edwards who threw six innings with eight hits, four strikeouts, and two free bases. As a team, the RedHawks used six hits and seven walks to ensure the win, including homeruns from Taylor Hurford and Kaycee Hurd. Callie Pendley, Morgan May, Edwards, and Familia each added hits on the day, as May scored two runs on the day, and Edwards picked up two RBI.
The RedHawks blanked Taylor University 4-0 on Saturday afternoon behind the arm of Bishop who tossed a gem one-hitter. The senior ace struck out four batters without a single walk in a fantastic performance for her fourth win of the season. The MMC offense backed Bishop, as Hurford delivered a three-run long ball in the second, and Edwards delivered an RBI base hit in the third for an insurance run.
Taylor University scored in the first three innings of the second game, holding a 6-0 lead before the MMC offense began to spark. The RedHawks scratched runs across in both the fourth and fifth innings, before a four-run team effort in the 6th inning tied the game at 6-6. When both teams failed to score in the seventh inning, the international tie breaker rule was initiated in the eighth when again, both teams failed to score a run. In the top of the ninth, Taylor appeared to gain the momentum, scoring a run for a 7-6 lead. Ashton Edwards, however, used her second homerun of the season to lift MMC to the 8-7 win in walkoff fashion.
Emily Robb went six inning in the circle for the no decision with six runs on eight hits and four walks, while Edwards earned the win on three innings pitched, two hits, a run, and three strikeouts. Nearly all of the RedHawk starters contributed hits, including Edwards, Hurford, Hurd, May, and Taylor Ferguson each with multi-hit outings at the plate.
Martin Methodist will be back in action on Wednesday, March 2nd, hosting Culver-Stockton in a home doubleheader beginning at 3pm.
The RedHawks will then take to the road for the Gulf Coast Invitational in Gulf Shores, Alabama. MMC begins pool play on Friday morning at 9am and 11am against 5th-ranked Central Methodist and Ave Maria University. The RedHawks will have Saturday matchups with Spring Hill College at 1 p.m. and University of South Carolina-Beaufort at 5 p.m.
Pool play will determine Sunday's schedule.
