SMYRNA, Tenn. – The McKendree softball team opened the Heather Tarter era here Saturday by splitting its two games on the first day of the 2022 Music City Invitational held at Cedar Stone Park.
 
The Bearcats opened the 2022 season with a 20-0 win in five innings over Ferris State, before falling 10-9 in its second game of the season against host school, Trevecca Nazarene.
 
"I love the way our team came out on opening day. We showed a lot of fight in game two coming back from being down 9-0 and finding a way to tie the game up," said Tarter, who made her debut as McKendree's new head coach. "A lot of positives from day one."
 
The win in the season opener was the first for McKendree since 2019 and just the second time in the last 10 years that the softball team opened the season with a win. In addition, the 20 runs against Ferris State were the most since scoring 16 in a 16-0 win over Delaware Valley College at the Snowbird Collegiate Softball Tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on March 12, 2014.
 
In Saturday's two games, the Bearcats rapped out a total of 28 hits, including 10 extra base hits and drew nine walks and scored multiple runs in seven of the 12 innings they played on the day.
 
Against Ferris State, the Bearcats got the scoring started in the top of the first inning as junior catcher Skyler Davis (Muncie, Ind./UT-Martin) recorded the first hit of the season with one out and he would score when the next hitter, junior rightfielder Olivia Stansbury (Lafayette, Ind./Purdue Fort Wayne) drilled a two-run homer over the fence in right field.
 
The Bearcats added four more runs in the top of the second as junior third baseman Kelsey Sachs (Troy, Mo./Troy Buchanan) led off with a triple and she would score the third run on a throwing error by Ferris State catcher Kaitlyn Fick. Freshman centerfielder Austen Vickery (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township) added a fourth run on an RBI single by junior leftfielder Morgan Andrews (Creal Springs, Ill./Marion). Later in the inning, McKendree added runs thanks to bases-loaded walks issued to both freshman second baseman Heaven Lawrence (Marion, Ill./Marion) and freshman designated player Sydney Bires (Carlinville, lll./Gillespie).
 
McKendree's lead grew to 7-0 in the top of the third on an RBI single by graduate student first baseman Paige Hayden (Independence, Mo./Fort Osage).
 
The Bearcats put the game out of reach in the fourth inning as they sent 11 batters to the plate and scored eight runs on six hits and two Ferris State errors. The big hits in the inning were an RBI triple by Sachs, three straight RBI singles by Andrews, Davis and Stansbury and a 2-run double by Hayden.
 
McKendree added five more runs in the fifth to complete the scoring. In the inning, the big hit was a 2-run single by Bires. The other runs were driven in by Andrews, sophomore shortstop Natalie Schellert (Wentzville, Mo./St. Dominic) and sophomore pinch hitter Brooke Burcham (Nashville, Ill./Kaskaskia), who drew a bases-loaded walk.
 
Andrews, Stansbury, Hayden and Sachs each had three hits in the game, while Stansbury scored four times and Sachs, Andrews and Davis each scored three times in the win.
 
The top four hitters in the line-up (Andrews, Davis, Stansbury, Hayden) went a combined 11-for-14 with 11 runs scored and 10 RBI. 10 of the 14 Bearcats that recorded an at-bat in the game recorded a hit.
 
Sophomore pitcher Ellie Quaethem (Washington, Mo./Washington) and Bires combined to pitch a shutout as Quaethem earned the win after tossing three innings and allowing four hits, while walking one and striking out four. Bires pitched the final two innings and allowed one hits and struck out four in her collegiate debut.
 
Aryn Gallacher (0-2) took the loss for Ferris as she tossed 1.1 innings and allowed 11 hits and 10 runs, while walking one and striking out two.
 
Fick and Kylie Winkels each had two hits for Ferris State, who fell to 1-3 on the season.
 
Meanwhile, in the game against Trevecca Nazarene (5-3), the Bearcats recorded eight hits and after trailing 9-0 after three innings, McKendree would rally by scoring nine runs from the fourth through sixth innings to tie the game.
 
In the seventh, TNU would retake the lead on a double and then an error by Lawrence at shortstop to give the Trojans a 10-9 lead.
 
The Bearcats would put a runner on base in the bottom of seventh as Lawrence was hit by a pitch and after she stole second with two outs, Schellert would leave her stranded as she flew out to left to end the game.
 
Trailing 9-0 after three innings, the Bearcats would dent the scoreboard with two runs in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an RBI double by Lawrence and Hayden added a second run later in the inning on a foul out to the second baseman.
 
McKendree added five more runs in the bottom of the fifth to pull within 9-7. The big hits in the inning were 2-run doubles by both Lawrence and Sachs. The fifth run was scored on a sacrifice fly by Stansbury.
 
The Bearcats tied the game in the bottom of the sixth as they scored two runs on two hits and an error by TNU. In the inning, Andrews reached on a one-out error and then scored on an RBI double by Davis, who would score on an RBI triple by Stansbury.
 
Davis, Lawrence and Sachs each had two hits in the loss, while Andrews, Davis and Hayden each scored twice. Lawrence, Sachs and Stansbury combined for seven RBI.
 
Andrews and Davis, who batted in the top two spots in the line-up, went a combined 3-for-8 at the plate with four runs scored and RBI.
 
TNU finished with 10 hits as Malone Thrift had three hits, two runs scored and 2 RBI, while Kelsey McPeters and Kendall Andrews each had two hits in the win and McPeters finished with 4 RBI.
 
Sophomore Katie Nuetzel (Hereford, Ariz./Buena) took the loss in the circle as she tossed 4.0 innings and allowed three hits and one run, while walking one and striking out four. Fifth-year senior Makenzie Carter (Anna, Ill./Lindenwood-Belleville) made the start in the circle and went 1.2 innings and allowed five runs and six hits, while walking one and striking out one in her first appearance since the 2020 season.
 
Hannah Caffey (1-1) picked up the win for the Trojans as she pitched 4.2 innings and allowed six hits and three runs (two earned), while striking out two and walking none.
 
Three of McKendree's nine runs were unearned thanks to three errors by TNU.
 
McKendree will conclude the 2022 Music City Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 20 with games at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. against Wisconsin-Parkside and Kentucky Wesleyan respectively.