Written and Media by Jaylen Shelton.
The Greenville Women’s Softball Team has started off strong against their rivals in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC). After having a rough start to their season, they have won six out of their nine conferences games so far this season. They have faced Webster, MacMurray, Spalding, Eureka, and Fontbonne. Greenville split the games against Webster, Spalding and Fontbonne. They pulled off a win against MacMurray and swept both of their games against Eureka. Junior pitcher Caitlin Opp said, “We had a rough start to the season, but we believe that we can turn the season around by doing well against our conference opponents.” In their games this week, they have a record of four wins and two losses.
Spalding
Greenville and Spalding split the game with Greenville, winning the first one 8-4. Greenville had the lead for the entirety of the game. The Panthers were led by both Becca Oldham and Cayla Speaks who each hit a home-run. Oldham also had four RBIs (runs batted in). Both Jordyn Wieland and Kate Jolliff Rosado were able to sneak past Spalding’s defense for two stolen bases. Opp pitched a majority of the game and was able to strikeout three people out of the 25 batters she faced.
In the second game, Spalding was able to turn things around and win the game 5-2. Greenville scored their only two runs in the first inning off of Josie Koontz’s triple to left center that got Wieland home following a hit from Rosado that got Koontz home. Rosado was the only Greenville player to steal a base in the game. Maegan Stone faced the most batters, pitching against 19 of them. She was able to strikeout three of Spalding’s batters.
Eureka
Greenville won both games against Eureka with scores of 8-4 and 5-4. In the first game, Greenville scored six of their eight points in the third inning. Speaks hit the ball center field to get two Greenville runners home. Oldham led the team with three RBIs and was also one of the three Greenville players to steal a base in the game. The other steals were Wieland and Koontz. Opp pitched the entire game, facing a total of 35 batters and throwing 103 pitches. She threw 64 strikes in the game. For the second game, Greenville had home-runs by both Oldham and Rosado, and they had great pitching from Stone, who threw against 26 batters and had a total of four strikeouts.
Fontbonne
In their most recent conference game, Greenville split their game against Fontbonne. Greenville lost the first game 5-1. Outside of Megan Barrett‘s fifth-inning home-run, Greenville was unable to muster any more offense. Opp had the majority of the pitching duty, pitching against 23 batters and with two strikeouts.
Greenville was able to recover from the first to win the second game 7-6. Oldham led the team with two RBIs and Barrett had the only other RBI. Stone-faced against 23 total batters, she was able to strike out two of them. Greenville scored three runs off of Fontbonne errors.
Greenville now has an overall record of eight wins and 15 losses, and sit 6-3 in the conference. Greenville has eight more conference games left against four different schools within the SLIAC. As Greenville turns their season around, they have a good shot at being in the SLIAC Conference championship game, thanks to their strong showing against other teams in the SLIAC. With only a few games left in their regular season, Greenville will look to finish it strong.
