The Grinnell College softball team put a scare into Midwest Conference South Division leader Monmouth College in both games of a twin bill here Thursday afternoon, but in the end the visiting Fighting Scots posted victories of 13-8 and 13-2.
Among the many highlights for Grinnell were Brianna Gallo ’11 (left) stealing two bases to break her own record for thefts in a season with 19, and Hannah Ney ’11 (right) belting her second homer of the season while collecting four hits on the day.
In the opener, Grinnell outhit Monmouth 15-14 and three Pioneers had three hits apiece – Aniela Wendt ’14, Jayme Wiebold ’12 and Jessica Menary ’13. Wiebold also had three RBI.
Monmouth struck for two runs in the top of the first, but Grinnell countered with two in the bottom as Stromquist hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Wiebold had an RBI single up the middle.
Monmouth scored twice in the third, but the Pioneers scored once in the bottom when Wiebold had an RBI single to center.
The Fighting Scots pulled away a bit with a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and five in the sixth for a 12-3 lead. Then it was Grinnell’s turn, as the Pioneers erupted for five runs. The first two came when Ney bashed a two-run homer over the left-center field fence.
Later in the frame, Aiyana Turpen-Scott ’14 had an RBI single to center, Gallo had a run-scoring single to right and Wiebold plated another run with an RBI single to center.
Monmouth finished the scoring with one run in the seventh.
In the second game, Ney went 3-for-3 and the Pioneers broke out to a 2-0 lead with solo runs in the first and second innings. In the first, Stromquist belted an RBI double to right-center field and in the second, Gwen Deger ’11 had an RBI double to right-center.
The score remained the same until the Fighting Scots scored five runs in the fourth inning and added eight more in the sixth.
Monmouth is now 10-1 in the MWC and 19-12 overall, while Grinnell fell to 0-11 in the league and 0-27 overall.
The Pioneers travel to Galesburg, Ill., on Friday to meet Knox in a MWC doubleheader. The first pitch is at 3:30 p.m.
