CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Raven Softball held off elimination twice on Friday on day two of the Heart Softball Championship Series.

In their first elimination game, the Ravens earned a comeback win over MNU, 4-1, to knock out the Pioneers. They followed up that win, with a 4-2 win over William Penn University to knock out the Statesmen and advance to day three.

Against MNU, the Ravens scored four unanswered after falling behind 1-0 after the first inning. Lenae Salinas singled in the Ravens first run in the fourth and then later scored after stealing home to give Benedictine a 2-1 advantage. Halley Rindom doubled in Chloe Strickland in the top of the fifth and later scored on an RBI single from Kaitlyn Fanning to put the Ravens ahead 4-2.

MacKenzie Pinkerton earned the win inside the circle in relief of Kera Willougby. Pinkerton threw 5 shutout innings holding MNU to just 4 hits and give the Ravens offense time to heat up. 

Rindom went 2 for 3 with a double while Salinas also went 2 for 3.

In their second elimination game, they used a 3-run second inning to pull ahead of the Statemen and then held William Penn scoreless over the final three innings.

Jenna Drish earned the win in relief of Pinkerton. Drish threw the 4 innings, shutting out the Statesmen on a one-hit effort.

At that plate, the Ravens took full advantage of two errors by the Statesmen during the 3-run second. Madison Zaccardo scored directly on an error before Strickland hit a sac-fly to score Natalie Sheffield. Pickering scored on a single from Fanning to put the Ravens ahead 4-0.

Fanning went 2 for 3 with a triple while Sheffield went 2 for 4.

The Ravens continue play in the Consolation Bracket on Saturday. They will take on the winner of the Evangel-Grand View game at 2:30 p.m. back on Busse Field on the campus of Mount Mercy University.

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