Lady Saints rally for walk-off win; sweep Conqs

LIBERAL, Kan. – The Seward County Community College softball team continued its hot hitting with a doubleheader sweep of Dodge City Community College, 17-16, 12-1, on Wednesday at French Family Field. Seward leads the Jayhawk West at 4-0 with a one game lead over Colby. The Lady Saints have won five of their last six games and are 7-16 overall.

Seward travels to play at Colby Community College at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

GAME ONE

AJ Luna's walk-off double in the seventh inning lifted the Lady Saints to a wild come-from-behind win in the opener.

After giving up the lead in the top of the seventh, Seward tied the game at 16 with a two-run homer by Madeline Owen. Emily Mojica singled and Alyssah Pontoja sacrificed her over to second. Luna took an 0-1 pitch and doubled in Mojica for the game winner.

The Lady Saints rallied from an 8-6 deficit to take a 13-8 lead on the strength of a seven-run fifth inning. Emily Mojica had a two-run homer, Jaci Oakley and Madeline Owen added RBI singles, Miranda Nester had a sacrifice fly and Nicole Nelson drew a bases loaded walk for Seward.

Owen went 4-for-5 with three RBI and Pontoja and Mojica each had three hits and drove in two runs to pace Seward's 23-hit assault. Nissy Lechuga, Oakley, Luna and Jordan Cordrey also added multiple hits for the Lady Saints.   

Cordrey posted the win, allowing 16 runs, eight earned, on 10 hits, striking out five, walking eight and giving up three homers over seven innings.

GAME TWO

Jaci Oakley drove in four runs and Nicole Nelson had three RBI to lead the Lady Saints in a run-rule victory in the nightcap.

Dodge City took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but would not score again. Seward tallied the next 12 runs over the next four innings to finish the scoring. The Lady Saints tied it with one in the first and took the lead for good with three in the second and third and five in the fourth. Oakley had two-run doubles in the second and third innings while Nelson added a two-run triple in the fourth.

After giving up a run in the first, Alyssah Pontoja blanked Dodge City the rest of the way. Pontoja allowed one run on six hits, struck out five and walked none over five innings to earn the complete-game win.

Miranda Nester had three hits and Nissy Lechuga and AJ Luna chipped in with two hits each for Seward, which had 18 hits in the game.