PAINTSVILLE, Ky. - Midway traveled two hours to play its first home games of the 2026 softball season, then had to work even harder to secure its first River States Conference win upon arrival.
Kentucky Christian held the Eagles to just four hits in the opener, which the Knights won 6-2, only for Midway to score twice in the bottom of the seventh in game two, winning 5-4 thanks to a walk-off single by
Rhealee Ellis.
The games were played a Johnson Center High School in Paintsville, which had a turf surface that's been mostly unaffected by recent state-wide rain storms.
GAME ONE: KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN 6, MIDWAY 2
The Knights took control immediately on a two-run Alyssa Curtis home run in the top of the first inning and had a 4-0 lead before the Eagles got on the board with an
Autumn Wampler RBI triple in the bottom of the second.
Midway's other run came courtesy of a solo home run by
Molly Wooldridge in the fourth. It was the first collegiate home run for Wooldridge, who added a single in the sixth inning.
GAME TWO: KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN 4, MIDWAY 3
After taking a 3-2 lead into the seventh, starter
Alli Jones, who hadn't allowed a run since the second inning, retired the first two batters then got two strikes on Rebecca Engler, before Engler extended the game with a single.
That paved the way for Arian Adams, who also homered in the first game, to blast her second to left field, lifting the Knights to a 4-3 lead. KCU put the next two runners on base and nearly got another home run from Hunter Wagner, who sent a ball to the edge of the wall in centerfield, only for it to be caught by
Ella Baum.
Baum's big play proved massive, as Midway's offense came to life in the bottom of the inning.
After stealing second base, Wooldridge scored the tying run on a full-count single by
Madison Green. A
Savannah Teale walk and Jones single then loaded the bases for Ellis.
On a 1-1 count, she got a pitch right down the plate and sent it into centerfield for the game-winning run, giving the Eagles their second win in three games after an 0-7 start.
Green, who was inserted into the game in the first inning after an injury, had two significant plays at the plate, as she also drove in the go-ahead run on a fifth-inning fielder's choice, which gave Midway a 3-2 lead.
Karrington Briscoe tied the game with an RBI single earlier in the inning. After the Eagles fell behind 2-0,
Madison Hill scored their first run on a wild pitch in the third.
Jones had two hits and didn't surrender a walk in the circle to earn the first win of her college pitching career.
Midway will return to Paintsville on Sunday for another RSC doubleheader against West Virginia Tech. Game one is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
