Jarrett Matthews
Student Journalist
The Mountaineers women's softball team travelled to London on Saturday for their regular season opener. It was a doubleheader that saw them drop the first one 11-1 to Fanshawe and 16-0 to St. Clair in the nightcap.
The opening game saw Fanshawe's starting pitcher, Morgan Lowry, pitch a complete game on route to the ten-run victory.
The Falcons scored early and often, putting up three runs in the first inning and four more in the second inning against Mohawk's starting pitcher, Kerri Smith. Back-to-back triples by the Falcons highlighted the bottom of the first and a few more extra base-hits added to their lead in the second.
Emma Harker gave Mohawk their first run of the regular season in the bottom of the third with an RBI double to score Ally Lawson. The Mountaineers were only able to scratch across one run on three hits against Lowry who struck out eleven of twenty-three batters.
Aside from Harker, other notables were catcher Michaela Walker and third baseman Madison Young who each picked up a hit while shortstop Kacie Harrison walked twice.
In the second game of the day, Mohawk took on the St. Clair Saints who entered the game with some serious momentum, already 3-0 on the early season.
In the top of the first, the Mountaineers gave up two runs on an error and a sacrifice fly by Amy Claydon. In the bottom half, Harker crushed her second double of the day but never came around to score.
The second inning was a busy one for the Saints bats as they pushed 12 runs across the plate on 13 hits to take a 14-0 lead. Ally Lawson picked up the Mountaineers second hit of the game with a single in the second and the team didn't generate a ton of offence beyond that.
St. Clair's bats kept on coming in the third inning which saw them extend their lead to 16. Saints pitcher Allison Dufour got credit for the win in her shutout performance.
Mohawk will try to rebound on Sunday against the Conestoga Condors as they close out their opening weekend in London. First pitch comes at noon.