Lady Saints Sneak By, Then Hammer Colby in Twinbill

After failing to play their best softball on last week's Spring Break trip to Phoenix, Arizona, Seward County Head Coach Andrea Gustafson was worried about how her team would react as they jumped back into Jayhawk West Conference play on Tuesday afternoon at Lady Saints Field in Liberal.  Her fears were realized early on in game one of the double header as Seward faced an early deficit against the 4-21 Lady Trojans before coming back and hanging on to win 6-5.  In game two it was a different story though as the gals in green pounded out 19 hits and took advantage of 6 Colby errors as they run ruled the hapless Lady Trojans 16-0 in just five innings to sweep the double header. 

Things got off to a good start for the Lady Saints in game one of the double header as Katelyn Craker worked a quick 1-2-3 top half of the 1^st inning and Seward jumped in front 2-0 on a two out RBI double from Pokey Ewell in the bottom half of the inning. 

However, their lead wouldn't last long as Colby staged a two out rally in the 2^nd, getting two straight singles and then two Seward County errors to score three runs to flip the script and take a 3-2 lead. 

Seward knotted things up in the bottom half of the frame as a Colby error allowed Tiffanie Bolanos to reach and after a walk and a successful sacrifice bunt, a groundout from Marissa Chavez pushed Bolanos home to tie the game at 3. 

It remained a 3-3 game into the bottom of the 4^th when Joe Ann Rapoza was hit by a pitch to start the Seward half of the inning.  Another sac bunt from Felisha Vogelaar moved Rapoza to second and a single from Chavez scored her to put the Lady Saints in front 4-3.  Seward continued to play small ball and their second sac bunt of the inning moved Chavez into scoring position at second.  On the first pitch after the bunt, Becky Allen lined a single into the outfield to bring Chavez around and at the end of 4 it was Seward 5 and Colby 3. 

A solo home run for Colby in the 5^th drew the Lady Trojans to within one at 5-4 and Seward was unable to get anything going in the bottom half of the inning as they clung to a 5-4 lead into the 6^th. 

The Lady Trojans looked like they were in business in the 6^th as their first two hitters of the inning reached via singles and both moved into scoring position after a well-executed sacrifice bunt.  However, Craker was able to get a groundball on the infield to prevent the runs from scoring for the time being and an adventurous fly ball to short right field ended the threat and kept Seward up 5-4. 

It looked as if that was the way the game would go to the 7^th as Seward had nobody on with two outs in the bottom half of the 6^th when sophomore Andrea Sitter ripped a line drive to center field that Colby's outfielders were unable to come up with.  Seward's fastest runner raced around the bases and reached third where Gustafson waved her around to try to score.  Sitter slid home safely for the Lady Saints first inside the park home run of the season to give them an insurance run and a 6-4 lead. 

In the Colby half of the 7^th a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for the Lady Trojans with one out and  forced the Lady Saints to go to the bullpen.  An infield single for Colby plated one run to make it 6-5 and brought the tying run 60 feet from home with the bases still loaded with one out.  On the next pitch, Seward got a tailor made 3-2-4 double play ball and handled all sides of it to retire the side and hang on by the skin of their teeth to win 6-5. 

Colby outhit Seward in the contest 10-9 and 2 errors from each side led to unearned runs for both teams in the game.  Ewell, Sitter, and Allen each had 2 hits in the win for the Lady Saints, Ewell also drove in 2 runs while Sitter scored a pair.  Craker earned the win for the Lady Saints in the circle, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing 9 hits and 5 runs while fanning 10 Colby hitters.  Brittany Hopkins came in to close it out for the Lady Saints, picking up the save in 2/3 innings of work. 

#9 SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME ONE BOX SCORE

After a stern talking to by Gustafson between games, the Lady Saints came out firing in game two of the double header.  Seward scored five times in the bottom half of the 1^st inning, using three Colby errors and RBI singles from Ewell and Vanessa Oakden to take a 5-0 lead. 

Seward continued their roll in the 2^nd inning getting a one out RBI double from Danielle Orr to make it 6-0 and an RBI single two batters later from Chavez to score two more to make it 8-0.  They weren't done there.  Three more consecutive hits for the Lady Saints including RBI knocks from Oakden and Vogelaar added three to the Lady Saints lead as Seward went in front 11-0. 

Hopkins continued to do work in the circle for the Lady Saints in the 3^rd, retiring Colby on just 12 pitches to keep the Lady Trojans at bey and the Lady Saints up 11-0.

The Lady Saints tacked onto their lead in the 3^rd, getting three straight RBI hits from Chavez, Rapoza, and Oakden to put Seward up 14-0 and later in the inning Ewell drove home two more with a single to give the Lady Saints a 16-0 lead. 

Hopkins worked around a one out walk in the 4^th to keep Colby off the scoreboard and did the same around a one out single in the 5^th to close out the shutout, giving the Lady Saints a 16-0 win to sweep the double header with the Lady Trojans. 

The Lady Saints pounded out 19 hits in the win as all nine Seward starters had at least one hit in the victory.  Oakden finished 3 for 3 with 3 RBI's while Vogelaar was 3 for 3 with 2 RBI's and a run scored.  Chavez was 2 for 3 with 4 RBI's hitting out of the six hole for the first time this season and Ewell had her second straight multi RBI game in a 2 for 4 effort.  Hopkins earned her 10^th win of the year by going all 5 innings of the victory, pitching a shutout while allowing just 2 hits and striking out 3. 

#9 SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The Lady Saints improve to 26-7 overall on the year with the wins and take over sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk West at 6-2.  Colby's slide continues as they fall to 4-21 overall on the year and drop to the cellar in the Jayhawk West at 1-5. 

Seward continues their six game home stretch this afternoon at Lady Saints Field in Liberal as they host Clarendon in a non-conference double header starting at 2:00.