Seward Wraps Arizona Swing With Sweep

The Seward County Lady Saints may just be starting to find their groove.  Thursday the Lady Saints wrapped up their Spring Break trip to Phoenix by sweeping South Mountain by scores of 8-6 and 10-8, finishing the swing 5-1 while moving their record over the past six days to 7-1. 

In the first game of the doubleheader, runs were at a premium early on as the game was scoreless through two innings and looked to be headed that way to the 4^th  until a South Mountain error allowed the Lady Saints to get on the board first with a 3^rd inning run to take a 1-0 lead. 

Seward picked things up in the 4^th, exploding for six runs, getting an RBI doubles from Hannah Lopez and Venice Batts and RBI singles from Brittany Corrales and Kristyna Garcia to blow the game open to 7-0. 

Lady Saint starter Kelly Kearney was in control in the circle, working 1-2-3 innings in both the 4^th and 5^th frames to keep her shutout intact and Seward in front 7-0. 

However, that changed in the 6^th when the Cougars finally got to the Seward ace, putting together four consecutive hits to get on the board followed by a three run bomb to draw South Mountain back to within two at 7-5. 

Callie Silvers-Harnley smacked a single back up the middle for Seward to plate an insurance run in the 7^th to make it 8-5 and Kearney allowed just a lone run in the bottom half of the inning to secure an 8-6 win for the Lady Saints. 

Seward outhit South Mountain 12-8 in the victory, getting multiple hits from five different players including Garcia who finished 2 for 4 with 2 RBI's.  Kearney earned the win in the circle, going all the way, allowing 8 hits and 6 runs while striking out 4. 

SEWARD COUNTY/SOUTH MOUNTAIN GAME ONE BOX SCORE

It didn't take either side quite as long to get going in game two as the Lady Saints jumped in front right away with a three spot in the top half of the 1^st inning when Batts blasted a three run shot over the center field wall to put Seward up 3-0. 

South Mountain responded with a two run home run of their own in the bottom half of the inning to cut the Seward lead to 3-2 and the race was on. 

Hannah Clark singled home a run with the bases loaded in the 2^nd for Seward to make it 4-2 and that is where the score remained to the bottom of the 3^rd when a two run double for the Cougars tied the score up at 4. 

The Lady Saints kept on swinging, getting a two run double of their own from Clark in the top of the 4^th to retake the lead at 6-4.  But, so did the Cougars, plating three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take their first lead of the game at 7-6. 

A Kennedy Brunson run scoring single tied the game at 7 in the top of the 5^th and she trotted home a short time later as Corrales launched her fifth home run of the year, a three run shot to put the Lady Saints back on top 10-7. 

Seward starter Jaidyn Mawhinney kept South Mountain off the board in the 5^th and allowed just a single run to the Cougars in the 6^th to keep the Lady Saints in front 10-8. 

South Mountain brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 7^th after a Lady Saint error, but Mawhinney stood tall, retiring the final hitter of the inning to help Seward hang on for the 10-8 win. 

The game featured 23 hits, 13 for Seward and 10 for South Mountain.  The Lady Saints got at least one hit from everyone in the lineup including Clark who had a big day, going 3 for 5 with 3 RBI's and Corrales who was 2 for 5 with the big three run shot in the 5^th.  Mawhinney gutted out the win on the rubber for Seward, going the distance to improve to 5-7 on the year. 

SEWARD COUNTY/SOUTH MOUNTAIN GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Seward improves to 14-18 with the sweep while South Mountain falls to 11-23. 

The Lady Saints finish their Arizona swing 5-1 and will return home Monday to take on Trinidad State in non-conference action at Lady Saints Field at 1:00.