INDEPENDENCE — Some clutch pitching from Madelynn Collins and timely hitting made for a pair of victories for Allen Community College’s softball team.
The Red Devils snapped a five-game losing streak with 5-0 and 9-8 victories over host Independence.
The Game 2 victory came in a wild, back-and-forth affair that wasn’t settled until Mikayla Long doubled and scored on an error in the top of the eighth inning.
The rally gave Collins her second win of the day, after she came on in relief with runners on first and second with nobody out and ACC ahead, 8-7.
An error allowed the Pirates to knot the score, but Allen threw out an Independence runner at third for the first out. Collins then walked the next batter, but slammed the door with a strikeout and fly ball to center.
Independence took the upper hand in the second with a grand slam home run before Allen rallied with two outs in the third to make things close.
Long and Lizzy Hipp singled, and Alayna Brown walked to load the bases. Chloe Rogers and Bella Gravatt each followed with an RBI single to pare the lead to 5-3, and Morgan Baska was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to pull ACC to within 5-4.
Brown singled in the fifth, and Rogers hit an RBI double to knot the score, but Indy retook the lead with a two-out solo blast in the fifth.
But Long’s single brought home Haley Gedrose, and Hipp drove a two-run home run over the right field fence to push Allen on top, 8-6.
The Pirates returned the favor with a single, error and sac fly in the sixth to pull closer, setting up the dramatic finish.
Long went 3-for-4 with a double to lead the way. Hipp went 2-for-5 with a home run. Rogers singled and doubled. Brown and Baska both singled twice. Gedrose added a single.
Rogers got the start, giving up eight hits over six innings, with three strikeouts.
COLLINS shut down the Pirate offense in the opener, scattering five hits and striking out six.
Meanwhile, Hailee Lundine’s RBI double put ACC on top, 1-0. She then scored on an Independence fielding error to make it 2–0.
Collins answered every Pirate charge from there. She left the bases loaded in both the third and sixth innings, and twice left two runners on base.
A pair of Pirate errors and a walk to Aubrey Willis loaded the bases with nobody out for Allen in the top of the seventh.
