Monmouth College

Softball Drops Pair on Wednesday

Ashby delivers three hits against Marietta

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (03/12/2026) — The Monmouth College softball team dropped a pair of games in Florida on Wednesday afternoon. The Fighting Scots (3-7) lost to Greenville 7-3 in the opener and fell to Marietta 6-2 in the second game.

GAME ONE

Graci Guenther (Pekin, Illinois) and Savannah Powers (Volo, Illinois) both singled in the top of the first but were left on base. The Panthers scored three times in the first inning against Monmouth starter Alyssa Hefflefinger (Olin, Iowa). After a RBI single, they made it 3-0 with a 2-run homer.

The Scots got on the board in the second. Elizabeth Waymire (Havana, Illinois) doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch before Alexis Hardy (Rushville, Illinois) walked with two outs Karliegh Ashby (Monmouth, Illinois) brought in both runners with a single before the Panthers got out of the inning.

Greenville got one run back right away with a pair of hits in the bottom of the second and neither team scored in the third. Brooklyn Millhollin (Peoria, Illinois) led off the fourth with a walk and Alexis Hardy (Rushville, Illinois) singled. After a sac bunt by Ashby and a groundout, Guenther singled home Millhollin to make the score 4-3.

The Panthers finished the scoring in the fifth with three singles and a double as they took a 7-3 lead. The Scots picked up two hits in the seventh but left runners on the corners as the game ended.

Heffelfinger (1-2) took the loss as she allowed five earned runs on 12 hits and one walk while striking out one in five innings. Lydia Overcash (Farmington, Illinois) threw a hitless sixth inning with one strikeout.

GAME TWO

The Scots played Marietta for the second time in four days and the Pioneers scored in the first against Overcash. After a 1-out single and double, the Scots got an out at the plate on a throw from Waymire in left. But an error at third base gave Marietta a 1-0 lead with an unearned run.

Ashby led off the bottom of the first with a single and moved to second on the throw. Ella Cunningham (Dunlap, Illinois) sacrificed and was safe on an errant throw as Ashby scored to tie the game.

A single and a double put the Pioneers back on top in the second. Monmouth tied the game in the third as Ashby again led off with a single and Cunningham sacrificed. Maddie Hepner (Alexis, Illinois) singled to left to bring home Ashby for a 2-2 score.

The Scots nearly took the lead in the fourth. Waymire walked and Ariel Martinez (Galesburg, Illinois) reached on an error while sacrificing. But with two in scoring position, the Pioneers got out of the jam with a ground out, pop up and fly out.

Marietta took the lead again in the fifth. With one out and two in scoring position after they beat out a bunt to third, the Pioneer scored on a single for a 3-2 lead. Monmouth got an out at the plate on the play to end the inning. The Pioneers added two in the sixth on a bases loaded single and made it 6-2 in the seventh with a pair of singles against reliever Addie Greene (Rushville, Illinois).

Overcash (1-2) took the loss, allowing four earned runs on 15 hits over six innings of work. She walked two and struck out one. Greene allowed one run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout in one inning.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Powers hit safely in the first nine games this season before going 0-for-4 against Marietta ... Ashby had three of the five hits against Marietta and leads Monmouth with seven multi-hit games this season ... She also scored twice ... Guenther had two hits in the Greenville game, her second straight multi-hit game ... Gerard and Hepner also had two hits against the Panthers ... Hepner has five on the season ... Ashby had two RBI against Greenville ... Martinez had her first career start, hit and walk in game two ... The Scots are 0-4 all-time against Marietta with two of the losses on this trip ... The Scots are 4-8 against Greenville ... Monmouth played their final two games in Florida on Thursday ... They face Franciscan at 4:45 p.m. ET and Lakeland at 7 p.m. ET ... After returning from Florida, the home opener is a DH against Loras at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 21.