Danville, KY - Centre Softball entered 2026 looking to start the climb towards the top of the SAA after a difficult 2025 campaign. The Colonels have showed grit, toughness and the bats early in the season, using all 3 to sweep a doubleheader over Grace Christian University on Sunday to improve to 6-2 on the year and surpass their win total from all of 2025.
Game 1: Win (9-5)
Grace Christian came out the gates aggressive against Centre starter,
Sophia Lay. The Tigers put 2 runners on within the first 5 pitches of the game. With runners at the corners, an errant throw on a steal attempt allowed GCU to put the first run of the game on the board in the top of the 1st. A squeeze bunt followed to give the visitors a 2-0 lead after 1.
Centre got its offense going in the bottom of the 2nd.
Morgan Tabor drew a leadoff walk and moved to third thanks to a gap double from
Kira Mashburn. Two batters later,
Brinley Muller lined a ball to left that was misplayed by the fielder and rolled to the wall. Tabor and Mashburn scored to give the Colonels the tie after 2. It proved short lived as GCU scored again off a Colonel error for a 3-2 lead.
The Colonels then flipped the game over in the bottom of the 3rd.
Layne Ogle started things with a sharp double down the right field line.
Emily Lammers then blooped a single to center and stole 2nd.
Jada Challiss then walked to load the bases with no outs.
Morgan Tabor then brought Ogle and Lammers home with a single to center for a 4-3Â Centre lead. With 2 out,
Cheney Floyd sent a single to right to score Tabor and Challiss to push the lead to 3. A
Rylee Sandifer single then re-loaded the bases. Ogle stepped in for the second time in the inning and cleared the bags with a crisp double to the right-center wall. In total, Centre sent 12 to the plate with 7 hits and 7 runs on the board to take a 9-3 lead after 3.
Sophia Lay kept it that way with a quick 1-2-3 fourth. GCU got an unearned run in the 5th as an attempted double play ball was thrown away at second base, allowing a runner to come all the way around from first to score. Lay kept her cool and induced a tapper in front of the plate to retire the side. GCU threatened in the 6th with 2 on, but Lay got out of it with a lineout to center. The Tigers scored their only earned run of the game in the top of the 7th but Centre closed it out for the 9-5 win.
Sophia Lay went the distance, allowing just the single earned run and scattering 7 hits while striking out 9 on 109 pitches.
Layne Ogle,
Morgan Tabor and
Cheney Floyd each had multiple RBI in support of the freshman pitcher.
Game 2: 3-1 Win
The second game of the day saw strong pitching and shaky defense.
Ashley Howard got the ball for the Colonels in the finale. After a leadoff single, Howard retired three straight to start things off. Centre had its own chances in the bottom of the inning but left 2 runners on with nothing to show for it.
Howard went back to work in the second and make quick work of the GCU offense, needing just 9 pitches to retire the side. Centre's offense also was quiet in the inning, thanks in part to a 1-3 double play as the game stayed scoreless heading to the 3rd. GCU broke through in the top of the 3rd. A 2-out single to right kept the inning alive. The next batter singled to right, but
Kira Mashburn overran the ball, allowing the runner to come around and score. Howard shook it off and got a weak tapper to first to end the inning. Centre went down in order to end the 3rd trailing 1-0.
The offense got help from the Grace Christian defense in the bottom of the 4th and took advantage.
Emily Lammers started the inning with a triple to right. She scored a moment later as a ball hit by
Jada Challiss to left was misplayed and allowed Challiss to scamper to third. She came home on the next at-bat as
Morgan Tabor lofted a shallow fly to center. With nothing but blue skies and sun above, the GCU centerfielder dropped the ball to give the Colonels a 2-1 lead heading to the 5th.
GCU tried to answer back in the top of the 5th but Centre's defense stepped up to wipe out the threat. Back-to-back singles started the inning for the Tigers. With 1 out, a line drive was snagged on a diving catch by
Rylee Sandifer in left. The GCU runner at second got aggressive and went for third, but Sandifer laced a perfect throw to the bag to beat the runner for the 7-5 double play to end the inning.
Kennedy Caudill took over for Howard in the 6th. The hard-throwing righty needed only 8 pitches to rip through the GCU side and keep Centre ahead by a run.
Emily Lammers started the bottom of the inning with a single to right.
Jada Challiss then hit a grounder to short. GCU went for the double play but the throw was wide of second base as Lammers hustled to third and Challiss took second.
Morgan Tabor then lofted a fly ball to right, deep enough to score Lammers for the all-important insurance run. As the ball came home, Challiss moved to third and when GCU bobbled the ball at the plate, Challiss went for home but was just beaten out by a swipe tag as Centre took a 3-1 lead to the 7th.
Caudill was back on and struck out 2 of 3 Tigers to record her first save of the year and give
Ashley Howard her second win as the Colonels took the day, improving to 6-2 in 2026. Howard threw just 63 pitches in 5 innings of work, allowing 6 hits and 1 earned run in the victory.
The Colonels will look to keep the momentum going next Saturday with another home doubleheader against Oberlin College, starting at 11:00am.
