LOUISVILLE, KY. – Spalding softball split a doubleheader against Berea College, falling in game one, 7-6, but bounced back taking game two, 11-4. The Eagles improve to 12-5 on the season heading into conference play this weekend.
 
GAME ONE
BEREA 7 – SPALDING 6
After a scoreless first inning, the Mountaineers plated a pair of runs in the second inning and three in the third to take a 5-0 lead. The Golden Eagles started to chip away at it in the bottom of the third inning. Bethany Wright reached on a leadoff walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch putting her in scoring position. A Christy Davis single through the right side drove Wright in from second to get the Eagles on the scoreboard. Berea answered with two more runs in the top of the fourth inning extending their lead to six runs. The Golden Eagle offense got rolling in the fourth scoring four runs. A Wright groundout to short brought in Mac Henderson for the first run of the inning and advanced Abby Booker to third. Booker came home shortly after on a wild pitch. Lindsey Hubbard singled to second scoring Avery Morris and an Addison Morris single to left would bring in Hubbard for the final run of the inning.  Berea carried a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh. SU was on the verge of a rally when Sweat blasted a solo home run to left center, but back-to-back popups would end the game and the Eagles chance to steal the victory.
 
NOTABLE STATS
Sweat was the only Golden Eagle to finish with multiple hits going 3-for-4 with one RBI. Olivia Carter (5-3) took the loss in the circle giving up seven runs on 10 hits, with five strikeouts.
 
GAME TWO
SPALDING 11 – BEREA 4
In game two, the Golden Eagles would came out swinging plating three runs in the bottom of the first. Ally Klein led off with a double to left center and Olivia Carter drove her in with a single to right center for the first run of the game. A Brooke Smith single brought in Sweat and an error at short on an Avery Morris at bat allowed Miranda Thomas to score the final run of the inning. Berea scored a run in the top of the third to make the score, 3-1. However, the Golden Eagles added two in the home half of the inning to push their lead to four runs. Jaycee Head reached on a leadoff bunt to open the inning and Sweat lifted a two-run homer over the fence in center field. Callie Janek hopped on the homerun train hitting a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Mountaineers scored three runs in the top of the fifth cutting SU's lead to a pair of runs, but the Eagles put the game out of reach with a five-run bottom of fifth. Sweat drove in her third run of the game with a single down the left field line, Thomas hit a RBI double scoring Jaycee Head, Smith hit a two-RBI single up the middle, and Janek capped it off scoring Smith with a single to left field.
 
NOTABLE STATS
Similar to game one, Sweat led the Golden Eagles at the plate going 3-for-3 with three RBIs, while Smith also finished with three RBIs on a 2-for-3 performance. Freshman pitcher Chole Skorija (5-1) received the win in the circle giving up four runs, on nine hits, with three strikeouts.
 
UP NEXT
The Golden Eagles open SLIAC play with a home doubleheader this weekend against Webster University Saturday at 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm ET.