Lady Pioneers sweep Roane State
By: Nick Kieser
HARRIMAN, TENNESSEE — The Vol State Lady Pioneers have completed their first sweep and conference road trip of the season. Roane State was defeated by the Pioneers in game one 11-7 and in game two 11-3. To start conference play the Pioneers are 2-0 and second in the standings behind Chattanooga State Community College.
Game one saw Madalyn Edde get the start but was taken out of the game after allowing two runs to score. Madison Milton pitched for five more innings to get her first win of the season. The two pitchers combined for two strikeouts to get the victory.
"It feels good but we can't let this win make our heads big. We have to keep the mentality the same and know that we can keep doing this," said Hannah Marlar following the sweep at Roane.
"I feel very pumped and I have a lot of faith in the girls over the season. This is a very good momentum starter for the rest of the season for sure," said Ciera Purvis.
Marlar batted in four runs in the first game and tallied her second home run of the year in game two. Purvis had a 3-4 game batting in the first win contributing to three runs out of the eleven scored to begin the sweep against Roane.
"It was more out of instinct but I knew we need a big play there. I went all out for the ball, but I mean it's a critical play to get us out of the inning and I knew what I had to do," said Purvis after making her diving catch to retire the side early in the series against Roane.
Game two was an inning shorter than game one with the Pioneers being up 11-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. Roane would score two runs in their final plate appearance to fall 11-3. Ali King had three RBIs which led the Pioneers in this game to complete the sweep.
"Anytime that we have a lead I feel like our momentum carries out throughout the rest of the game and sometimes if we start out without any runs we tend to have our heads down the majority of the game and that's why we didn't score until the fifth inning," said Purvis.
Marlar went yard in the top of the sixth inning for her second home run of the season to put the Pioneers up 9-1 on Roane. Acklin would go on to hit an RBI single to score King in and Ace Hanson doubled to score in Tara Cates for the final run of the game.
"Just doing what I can to help the team out. Just doing my job and it felt good," said Marlar postgame about hitting her solo home run.
Tara Cates started and pitched a complete game to get her second win of the season and totaled two strikeouts in game two versus Roane to get the win. Peyton MacLeod was behind the dugout staying loose but she was not needed to come in relief for Cates.
The Pioneers next matchup is on the road versus Calhoun College on Thursday for a doubleheader. First pitch is 1 p.m. and for live in-game updates follow the Twitter @VSCCPioneersSB for updates and analysis.