~by Joseph Beaudet, Scranton Journa intern
The Ram softball team got its first win of the season in a thriller against the PCM Mustangs on Wednesday, July 8.
On the mound, Emma Hoyle had her ups and downs, but started and finished her complete game strongly. Hoyle allowed five earned runs and three unearned runs in six innings on her way to a win. She gave up eight hits, walked five batters, hit three more with pitches and struck out six.
Wednesday night was easily the Rams’ best of the season offensively. The Rams collected 14 hits with 13 singles and their first extra-base hit as a team, a double by Hoyle. The team was also walked once and hit by one pitch. Hoyle led the way for the Rams, with two singles and a double, but Kyla Beyers had a strong game of her own with two singles and getting hit by one pitch. Carmyn Paup was the other Ram starter with more than one hit, as she had two singles of her own. Every Ram with an at-bat had a hit and the only starter without one was Paige Teeples, but she only played in the field for the Rams. Beyers anchored the Rams offense with four RBI while Hoyle and Tieryn Tucker had two of their own.
The Rams’ fielding started off rough to say the least, but the team quickly shifted their fortunes after a majority of their errors were committed within the first three innings. As a team, they committed five errors with three in the infield and two in the outfield.
The PCM Mustangs got out to a fast start by scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, which the Rams quickly answered with one run of their own. The Rams then scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-2 lead. The Mustangs tacked on an additional run in the top of the third inning and the score was 5-3 entering the fourth inning.
The Mustangs scored six runs in the top of the fourth inning and threatened for more before Hoyle shut things down and secured the final two outs of the inning. Things looked grim for the Rams as they entered the bottom half of the fourth inning trailing 9-5. With some good luck and incredible hitting in the bottom of the fourth, the Rams were able to score five more runs of their own and take the lead. Those were the last runs either team would score in this one. Hoyle and the Rams secured the first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the top of the sixth by getting all three Mustangs batters out.
The Rams will look to build off this game as they host the Norsemen of Roland-Story on Thursday, July 9.
