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Haslett’s hustle helps Penguins earn softball split with Zips
By Ryan Buck
AKRON
Youngstown State softball player Kayla Haslett will have a sore, yet endearing mark to remember the Penguins’ trip to Akron for the next week or so, or until the Penguins’ training staff can work its magic.
The junior designated hitter raced home from third base on a fielder’s choice and slid home safely as the throw from Zips shortstop Chelsea Wildley struck her in the back. Her run gave the Penguins an 8-7 seventh-inning lead they ultimately held in game two of the teams’ non-conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Lee Jackson Field in Akron.
“Oh yeah, it hurt!” Haslett said laughing. “It’s all right though, especially ’cause we won.”
After dropping the first game 8-2, the Penguins (17-16) jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead in the second inning of the second game and led by as many as five runs before watching the Zips (16-8) tie the game on a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth.
“That was definitely much better than the first, thankfully,” Haslett said. “I think we worked as a team a lot better in the second game so that’s what we were going for.”
Behind first-inning runs and four more in the third, plus ace Casey Crozier’s command on the mound, YSU carried a 7-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
Crozier walked the bases loaded before MacKenzie Conrad’s two-out single brought Akron to within four runs. One batter later, Shawna Mailloux drilled Crozier’s 0-1 fastball over the left-field fence to tie the game.
“They’re a good hitting team there — Akron — and they ended up coming back on us,” said Penguins coach Brian Campbell. “I’m just proud of how we finished it out in the seventh.”
Haslett led off the inning with a double to the left-center field wall and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt.
Hailey Knight pounded Erin Seiler’s 3-2 pitch to the left side of the infield as Haslett broke for home without hesitation.
“Before I took the lead, I realized (Wildley) was playing a little deeper so I was just telling myself that if it got hit to her I was going for it,” Haslett said. “Hard.”
Haslett’s auburn hair emerging from underneath her batting helmet was the only hue that stood out from the cloud of dirt as she slid into home plate.
Freshman Caitlyn Minney set Akron down in order in the bottom the seventh to earn the win.
“It was nice to see them rebound,” Campbell said, “and battle back all the way through. It was nice to see them execute there in the seventh then hold it through in the bottom of the seventh for the win.”
Sarah Dowd led off the game with a home run to right before Courtney Ewing doubled and scored and Katie Smallcomb singled in Sarah Ingalls for a 3-0 lead.
Ingalls scored again in the third. Later, Jordan Macey singed home Haslett and Smallcomb before Knight scored on another Dowd RBI.
In game one, Seiler held the Penguins to four hits and the Zips broke the game open with four sixth-inning runs.