The Three Rivers College softball team got a strong pitching performance from Emma Crabb to power the Lady Raiders to a 6-1 win the first game of Thursday's doubleheader with the Crowder Roughriders at J.D. Rains Field.

It was a different story in the nightcap, as the Roughriders rallied for a 6-5 win to salvage a split.

But in Thursday's opener, Crabb was masterful in the circle for the Lady Raiders, striking out 11 batters and allowing just one hit, a solo homer by Alaura Padgett in the top of the fifth inning, and two walks.

Three Rivers opened the game's scoring when Natalie Wilks hit a solo homer to left for a 1-0 lead, then Lexi Davis added her own solo shot in the bottom of the third to make it 2-0 TRC.

After Padgett's homer made it a one-run game, the Lady Raiders scored four times in the bottom of the sixth inning to ice the game.

Wilks singled home Kodi Van Eycke and Haley Payne to increase the lead to 4-1, then Camryn Casey scored on a wild pitch and Wilks scored on Clara Rahlmann's bunt to make it 6-1.

Wilks had three hits on the day, while Davis and Gracie Wright had two apiece. Wilks also had three RBIs.

In the nightcap, Crowder took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning, but TRC answered with four runs of its own in the bottom of the inning to take a short-lived 4-3 lead.

Maddy Hefner singled home pinch-runner Olivia Crabb to make it 3-1, then Hefner scored on an error to cut the Roughriders' lead to 3-2. Josie Bezzole then hit a two-run homer to leftfield to score Davis and give Three Rivers a 4-3 lead.

However, Crowder tied the game in the top of the third inning and took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fourth on an Avery King solo homer. Arene Landon-Lane then scored on an error in the top of the seventh inning to put her team up 6-4.

That run loomed large in the bottom of the seventh when Hefner doubled home Abi Jorgensen to make it a 6-5 game, putting Jorgensen at second with the tying run. But the Lady Raiders came no closer as the next batter was retired.

Bezzole, Wilks, Hefner and Alyssa Bastien each had two hits in the loss, while Bezzole and Hefner each drove in two runs.

Three Rivers is back in Saturday when it hosts Jefferson for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.

Mike Buhler - Daily American Republic