NEW YORK — First year
Jordan Hill struck out a career-high 10 on her way to a three-hit shutout, leading the Columbia softball team to victory over Monmouth, 3-0, Wednesday afternoon at the Columbia Softball Stadium.
Hill's 10-strkeout performance made her the first Lion in eight years to post double digits in a single game — the last to do it was Emily Kenyon in a 5-1 win over Rider on March 23, 2014. The rookie out of San Dimas, California struck out four through the first three innings before going on to strike out the side in order in the fourth. After working through her only bit of trouble in the sixth, Hill struck out Monmouth's leadoff hitter on three pitches in the seventh and fittingly retired Julia Thuer swinging to end the game.
"It was nice to finally come back, be on top of it and be there for my team," said Hill, who improved to 5-7 and lowered her team-leading ERA to 3.23 on the season. "All of us had been struggling, so I feel like this is a good start for our path … We're excited to get out there and do the job again this weekend."
Columbia (9-20) scraped across three runs in the fourth to back up Hill's performance. A leadoff triple by
Jaden Hill put things in motion. Two batters later,
Bubba Gleaves singled off the glove of Monmouth pitcher Kyle Gletow to score the game's first run.
Maddy Rifenberick rifled a sharp liner off the glove of a diving third baseman to bring home the second run before a dropped ball in center field by Stavi Augur made it a 3-0 game.
"I thought we had some really good baserunning [in that inning]," Columbia head coach
Jennifer Teague said. "Monmouth jumbled some balls and we could have stayed where we were, but we advanced. It was no small coincidence that we actually worked on baserunning yesterday too."
Columbia's three hits in the inning accounted for its only three hits of the game, but it was enough for Hill, who used just 80 pitches to deliver the second shutout of her young career.
"It's a feat anytime you can get double-digit strikeouts," Teague added. "[Jordan] had a really good day and it's really good to see that poise out of her."
Wednesday's win closed out an eight-game homestand for Columbia. The Lions will now hit the road for their next seven, beginning this Friday and Saturday with an Ivy League series at Brown. Friday's first pitch is set for 4 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m.
For the latest on the Columbia softball program, follow @CULionsSoftball on
Twitter and
Instagram, on Facebook at
Facebook.com/CULionsSoftball. You can view all the latest with the Lions on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com/Softball.
