Huntington Capitalizes Early, Rides Mollenkopf to 5-1 Victory
Huntington Shuts Down Carolina in Space Coast Spring Games
This evening the Carolina University Bruins faced off against the Huntington University Foresters in Melbourne, Florida, at the Space Coast Spring Games. This one was a good one for the Foresters, as they won 5-1 behind a strong night from Kinzie Mollenkopf.
Kinzie Mollenkopf took the ball for the Foresters and was threatened right off as Carolina’s Nathaly Ochoa reached on a walk and then stole second. Then on a one out single by Anni Bergmeier, Ochoa reached third to put runners on the corners. That brought Emma Lea-Cabral to the plate, and after a short battle, she brought Ochoa in on a sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 Bruins lead.
Carolina brought Madison Hamilton to the circle in the bottom of the first and the Foresters put themselves in a good position early. After Kasey Hickle struck out to begin the inning, Jess Duvall doubled to left center and came home after her sister Maddie Duvall recorded an RBI single to right. She would go on to second on the throw, putting Huntington in position to add more on.
Kailee Bishop would in fact bring M. Duvall in to give the Foresters a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first. Bishop would make it to third, but would be left stranded.
Mollenkopf came back out in the top of the second and was on her stuff. She sat down the first two batters via strikeout and proceeded to retire the side in order.
Ahead to the bottom of the third, Huntington struck again. Jess Duvall led off with a single and advanced to second with Maddie Duvall reaching on a throwing error. That gave the Foresters two on with no outs, and then with one out, Khloee Gregory hit an RBI single to score Jess and the Foresters took a 3-1 lead.
The Foresters threatened for more, but the ball would never leave the infield to bring either in, leaving them stranded.
Carolina just couldn’t seem to string together any hits to cut into the Huntington lead. In the top of the fourth, Bergmeier and Lea-Cabral reached to put two on with no outs, but three consecutive outs left them stranded, including a Chloe Herbster strikeout. Mollenkopf and the Foresters did what was needed to cut the Bruins’ effort short.
Makinzie Kline was put on by a hit by pitch and after moving around to third, a Hamilton pitch got away from Lexi Hall for a passed ball that allowed Kline to score. Huntington took a commanding 4-1 lead at that point and were capitalizing on most opportunities.
After a Hickle fly out, the Duvalls would single back to back, and after they reached second and third, a lineout would strand them. Carolina dodged a bullet for more damage, but still had a mountain to climb.
Mollenkopf came back to the circle and got to work with a strikeout to Skyla Hailey. The Bruins would get some traffic on the bases after a couple of miscues, but Mollenkopf would come away after striking out Jocelyn DeMoss for her fifth strikeout of the game.
Ahead to the top of the sixth, Carolina got some offense cooking with Bergmeier and Lea-Cabral recording back to back singles to hopefully get something going in their favor. After Bergmeier advanced to third on a sac fly, the Bruins would have runners on the corners with one out.
Mollenkopf then struck out Herbster for her sixth punch out of the game, and then Lea-Cabral would be caught stealing second as Kailee Bishop made the throw with Maddie Duvall applying the tag.
Just like that, Carolina’s try for some motion had come up empty again.
After Tharp and Hickle reached by way of a hit by pitch and error to start the bottom of the sixth, both would advance on a fly out. Then M. Duvall reached on a hit by pitch to load the bases with one out. After Bishop popped out, Tharp would come in for the final run of the game to give Huntington a 5-1 lead.
Kinzie Mollenkopf returned for the complete game effort in the top of the seventh and recorded her seventh strikeout of the game. The Bruins would get some traffic, with Alyssa Rowe and Ochoa singling, but neither would reach home, and the Foresters took this one 5-1.
Kinzie Mollenkopf went the distance with 7.0 innings pitched, allowing one run on seven hits with seven strikeouts to one walk.
Leadoff hitters for Huntington really came with a plan in this one, going 5-for-6 at the plate. Jess Duvall was locked in, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, and Maddie Duvall was 2-for-3 with an RBI and one run scored.
The Foresters return to action on Wednesday at 12:15 PM ET against Mount Marty from Yankton, S.D.
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