Trojans Squander Early Leads in Losses to No. 12 Marian
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – RV Taylor (32-14, 18-10 CL) held leads in both of its contests against No. 12 Marian (37-11, 24-6 CL) on Saturday, but could not keep them, suffering 3-1 and 7-3 losses at the hands of the Knights.
In the opener, Kara Tucker drove in the Trojans’ lone run, scoring Ashton Whitman on a sacrifice fly to left field, and Taylor would hold that lead until the bottom of the sixth inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, a dropped foul ball came back to haunt the Trojans as the Knights plated two runs on the very next pitch to take a lead they would not relinquish. Marian added an insurance run on a Taylor fielding error to secure its comeback victory.
Despite the loss, Maddi Evans put together another stout performance against the Knights, giving up just four hits while recording eight strikeouts, giving her 199 on the season. With one more strikeout, the junior will become the first Trojan pitcher in program history to record 200 strikeouts in a single season.
Additionally, Taylor sophomore Emma West etched her name in the TU record books in game one, passing Alex Lovelace to become the Trojans’ single-season stolen base leader with 26.
The Trojans got off to a strong start in game two, scoring all of their runs in the first two innings. Evans recorded her team-leading 34th and 35th runs batted in on a two-run single in the first frame, and Caitlyn Grim followed with an RBI double in the third to increase Taylor’s advantage to 3-1.
However, the Trojans recorded just one more hit in the final five innings, and the Knights scored six unanswered runs, including four in the fifth, to secure the doubleheader sweep.
Evans finished with two hits in the two-game set, while Whitman and Tucker each went 2-for-5 with a run scored.
RV Taylor will continue its eight-game road trip on Tuesday with another critical doubleheader against Mount Vernon Nazarene (21-9, 19-9 CL) that could determine its final playoff seeding for the Crossroads League Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 pm.