NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Knights played longball in both ends of their double-dip against Bethel University but came up short twice, falling 4-1 and 16-9. Hannah Maras’ (Sr./Madelia, Minn.) grand slam capped a nine-run inning in game two.
The afternoon began with a pitcher’s duel between Carleton’s Mari Jo Long (Sr./ Willmette, Ill./New Trier) and the Royals’ Rebecca Akerson.
Bethel broke the scoreless tie with an unearned tally in the third, but Michael Johnson (Jr./Minneapolis, Minn./Blake) knotted things up with a solo home run to left center to open the bottom of the fifth. It was Johnson’s third home run of the week and fifth of her career.
The score remained 1-1 until the top of the seventh when Lynnae Thompson deposited a three-run, two-out double into the right-centerfield gap to secure the Bethel win.
It appeared the Royals would ride the momentum from game one to an easy victory in game two as they batted around in both the first and second innings and built a sizeable 9-0 lead. But the Knights had other ideas.
Maras reached on a fielding error to start the bottom of the second. Seven of the next eight Knights reached base bringing the Carleton cleanup hitter back to the plate with the bases full and only one out.
With the Knights trailing 9-5, Maras jumped all over a pitch from Nea Harkness and drove it to right-center for an opposite field home run, tying the score. It was her first career roundtripper, and Carleton's third bases-loaded blast of the week.
The Royals immediately summoned Akerson back to the rubber, and she closed out the contest with 5.2 scoreless frames.
The nine-run outburst in the second inning was a season best, easily surpassing a pair of five-run frames in a 10-2 triumph over Concordia on April 14.
It was Carleton’s highest scoring inning since plating 10 runs against St. Joseph College (Conn.) on March 25, 2005 during the Sun West Tournament in Orange, Calif. It was the best frame by the Knights in a MIAC game since plating nine runs in the third inning of an April 7, 2004 contest at Augsburg.
The last time Carleton tallied nine or more runs in an inning at home was back on April 29, 2002 when the Knights pushed nine across in the fourth inning versus St. Olaf.
Carleton hits the road for a challenging matchup on Saturday, April 18 when the Knights take on national No. 6 University of St. Thomas.
