Jarrett Matthews
Student Journalist
A couple come from behind wins, including a walk-off, led to the first two victories of the season for women's softball.
Mohawk hosted the Seneca Sting in a doubleheader with the Mountaineers offense having its best performance of the year, winning 8-4 and 12-11.
In the first game, Mohawk was down 4-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. The Mountaineers offence would then explode for seven runs, hitting two singles and four doubles.
Pitcher Olivia Thompson shutdown the Sting in the last inning to close the door and give Mohawk their first win of the season.
After a tough 5-2 loss to the Sting this past Sunday, head coach Erin Forman said her team was extra determined.
"They expected to win on Sunday and were a bit disappointed in their performance," Forman said. "They came back with a little bit more fire this game and were prepared to walk away with the win."
The second game was a back and forth high scoring affair between the two teams.
The Sting opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single, but Mohawk responded right back with two of their own in the bottom half.
Seneca would then tie the game at two with an RBI double only to be outdone again by Mohawk scoring two more runs off a double in the second inning.
Mohawk would score another two runs in the bottom of the third to give themselves a 6-3 lead.
In the fifth inning Seneca's shortstop Lynne Young smacked a ball into deep centre field for an inside the park homerun to put the Sting up 7-6. The Mountaineers would once again respond, scoring four runs of their own in the inning, to make it 10-7 for Mohawk.
In the top of the sixth inning, another inside the park home run for Seneca would give them the lead, but the determined Mountaineers wouldn't go away. In the bottom half, Mohawk tied the game at 11 on an RBI double.
A three up, three down top of the seventh kept the game at 11-11 with the Mountaineers coming to the plate.
With a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh, Mohawk third baseman Randi Dale popped it up towards right field. The ball would drop between the second baseman and right fielder as the Mountaineers would plate the final run of the game for a walk-off victory.
"I just wanted to put the bat on the ball, hope for the best and it worked out for me," Dale said. "It feels amazing, we have wanted a win so bad this whole season. I'm just glad we finally got it."
The 12-11 win for Mohawk had Forman proud of her teams' efforts.
"I think every girl showed up tonight wanting and hungry for two wins," Forman said. "It feels pretty awesome, the girls are super pumped, and they played a great two games. I'm so happy for them and happy for us as a coaching staff too, we've been working hard the last two weeks."
The Mountaineers (2-6) now head to Kitchener on Saturday, Oct. 2 to play a doubleheader versus the Conestoga Condors (2-8) for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. games, followed by two games in Windsor on Sunday, Oct. 3 against the St. Clair Saints (10-0) with games beginning at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.