J. Andrew Lockwood
Senior Editor / Columnist
As Mike Raynor’s team dives head-first into the Atlantic Sun Conference slate of regular season games, pitching should be considered a constant. That’s what happens when you have Jenni Holtz and Kari Chambers on your staff. As for the offense, question marks will undoubtedly hang over their batting helmets until they can consistently score runs. After catching fire in mid-March, the Bears have had their ups and downs in April, splitting doubleheaders with Samford, Georgia Southern, Lipscomb and Belmont will dropping two games to in-state rival Kennesaw State.
Mercer 5 – Samford 0 The scoreboard remained quiet for six innings until a five-run seventh inning catapulted the Bears to a victory in the first game of the series. Jenni Holtz fanned 11 batters and their a complete game shutout to earn another victory for Mercer. The late-game heroics started when pinch-hitter Allison Jones hit a single in the middle gap to score shortstop Sara Stukes from second for the first run of the game. Afterwards, a fielder’s choice from Amanda Santa Maria would plate Lilli Luke while Kristin Marko would tally two RBIs on another single to right field. The scoring ended after Emi Sherrill tagged another hit to right field to score Santa Maria and Marko.
Samford 1 – Mercer 0 After the strong offensive display in the seventh inning, the Bears couldn’t generate any offense to support the superb pitching efforts of junior Kari Chambers. Allowing two hits and striking out seven, Chambers was replaced with reliever Natalie Jones in the seventh who ended up surrendering the game-winning bunt from Samford batter Amanda Jordan.
Kennesaw State 4 – Mercer 3 Mercer came oh-so-close to beating the Owls before a walk-off homerun by Klair Wells sealed the game. Pitching well into the ninth inning, Jenni Holtz once again seemed to hold the opposing batters at bay despite surrendering three runs throughout the course of the game. Sara Stukes walloped her 5th homerun of the season in the top of the second, but Mercer would account for only two hits on the afternoon to fall to the Owls.
Kennesaw State 9 – Mercer 5 In a wild second game of the doubleheader, Mercer’s pitching staff would give up a grand total of four hits to KSU’s lineup while mustering eight of their own, yet still lost 9-5. Giving up two home runs and a 3 run sixth inning silenced the Bears comeback efforts as they dropped the series to the Owls to return back to the .500 mark.
“The offense showed up [in game two] and the defense fell apart,” commented Raynor after the game on MercerBears.com. “We just need to put all the pieces together and we will be alright.”
Georgia Southern 1 – Mercer 0 Striking out 14 batters is a dominate performance, especially considering that most softball contests only last seven innings. Jenni Holtz did just that during the first game of the non-conference doubleheader with SoCon foe Georgia Southern making the trip up I-16 to take on the Bears at Sikes Field.
GSU’s leadoff hitter Nina Iduate broke-up Holtz’s shutout-effort in the fifth inning with a double to left-center field to score Kayle Brooks for the go-ahead run. Mercer rallied in the bottom of the seventh, but an infield hit from Stacey Condra turned into the double-play that the Eagles needed to seal the win.
Mercer 1 – Georgia Southern 0 Another defensive effort from both teams almost forced the second game of the double-header into extra innings. GSU starter Megan Smith battled Mercer’s Kari Chambers each inning from the circle until Smith gave up a walk-off home run to Stephaine Canara in the bottom of the seventh inning for a Mercer victory.
“It was a great way to end the day and we certainly need that,” Raynor commented afterwards. “It was better than a couple of singles and a bunt or something like that. We needed something to pump us up like that.”
Lipscomb 2 – Mercer 1 Facing arguably the best team in the A-Sun in Lipscomb, Friday afternoon’s pitching matchup of Holtz vs. Whitney Kiihnl was one of the most anticipated this season. Kiihnl eventually secured the win for her team, but in a weird twist of fate it was Holtz’s game to shine. Striking out eleven batters in seven innings, Holtz inched closer to the 723 strikeout mark set by Katie Rosentreter for the most strikeouts in Mercer softball history.
With a large crowd on hand for Alumni Weekend, Holly Oglesbee’s leadoff homerun in the first inning brought about a good start for the Bears. Unfortunately, Lipscomb’s Kellie Sirus would hit her own two-run homer in the top of the seventh to give Lipscomb their 32nd win of the 2010 season.
Mercer 3 – Lipscomb 1 The nightcap of the doubleheader started off in bad fashion for Kari Chambers as she walked Kellie Sirus, who would eventually score courtesy of a Christen Campbell single. Surprisingly though, the Mercer offense pulled through producing runs via small ball. Emi Sherrill and Jenny Goodman would record RBIs as they executed a fielder’s choice and bunt respectively.
“Hopefully this can be the spark we were looking for,” added Raynor. “I think we are beginning to believe in each other and we needed a win like this to get over the top.”
Mercer 10 – Belmont 0 Eleven hits in five innings did the job for the Bears in Saturday afternoon’s first game, giving Jenni Holtz plenty of support in a shellacking of the Belmont Bruins. Kristin Marko, Sarah Santana, and Stacey Condra each had multiple hits along the way to quickly put away the A-Sun foes from Nashville. The offense highlight of the game was a two-run shot in the fourth inning from Sarah Santana (2-for-3) for her fourth home-run of the year.
Belmont 1 – Mercer 0 Relieving for Kari Chambers in the second game, Jenni Holtz struck out eight batters to finally surpass the all-time strikeout mark near the end of the game in a historic feat at Sikes Field. Offensive woes plagued the Bears again as they accounted for only five hits and their lone run in the first inning. The loss set Mercer back to the .500 mark and dropped the Bears to 3-5 in A-Sun play.
