By: Connor Rowland | Contributor
The Taylor softball team's cold streak was iced a little more on Tuesday afternoon. The Trojans dropped both games 5-1 and 9-0 at the hands of conference rival Huntington University.
Junior Hannah Robbins dominated throughout the conference clash as game one proved to be an enticing pitching duel. The right-hander carved up the Foresters' bats en route to four strikeouts and no earned runs in seven superb innings of work. Despite a masterful pitching performance, one unearned run crossed the plate in the third inning, due to a miscue. The Foresters took the early lead and held the narrow margin until the bottom of the seventh inning.
The score sat dormant for the next four innings until sophomore Davis Carter stepped into the batter's box. Leading off the final inning trailing by a run, Carter battled in the box, fouling off several pitches until she finally unleashed her 13th career home run. The booming shot over the left field fence shattered the shutout.
"I made an adjustment," Carter said. "She had been throwing me inside and on that last pitch I opened up, saw the ball really well and just happened to make contact."
Carter's home run tied the game at one apiece with Taylor down to their final three outs.
The entire ballpark's momentum swung to the purple and gold after Carter's home run. However, two errors committed by the home team in extra innings proved to be the dagger in game one of the double header.
"I think a lot of times we make one mistake and it leads to another mistake," said Carter. "We really just need to limit those."
In the nightcap, Huntington got on the board early and stayed in command throughout the contest. The Foresters' bats got off to a hot start by scoring a cluster of runs in their first three innings and never looked back.
The promising Taylor softball team boasts three former All-Americans and several All-Crossroads League recipients. Needless to say, their 2-6 conference record has disappointed thus far this season. Despite their sluggish start to the 2016 campaign, Carter firmly believes in her team to get hot down the stretch.
"We are struggling right now, but I have 100 percent faith in my teammates," Carter said. "They can make the little plays that we need and the ESPN plays we need in clutch moments. I think that is what the game is all about."
Photograph by Chris Yingling
