Grizzlies Roar Past Seward in Twinbill

Trying to get off of the Jayhawk West schneid, the Seward County Lady Saints faced a tough opponent to do so against Thursday afternoon at Lady Saints Field in Liberal as they took on the 7^th ranked and 1^st place Butler Grizzlies.  Seward hung tough with Butler in game one before a big 4^th inning propelled the Grizzlies to a 13-6 win while in game two, the Lady Saints were never able to get their bats going, falling 8-0 in a six inning run rule. 

It didn't take long in game one for the Grizzlies to flex their muscles as Butler blasted their 30^th home run of the season over the left center field wall in the top half of the 1^st to take an early 2-0 lead. 

Seward's Brittany Corrales answered back with an opposite field blast of her own in the Lady Saints half of the 1^st to cut the Butler lead in half at 2-1. 

The Lady Saints took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the 2^nd when they scored two unearned runs without the benefit of a hit to jump in front 3-2. 

The lead didn't last long though as the Grizzlies struck right back for three of their own in their next at bats to retake the lead 5-3. 

Butler blew the game open in the 4^th, pounding out five hits and using a pair of sacrifice flies to score five times and make it a 10-3 game. 

Seward kept fighting though, jumping back into the game in the bottom of the 5^th when Venice Batts lined a double to the gap to score a pair and Hannah Clark lifted a sac fly to center to make it a 10-6 contest. 

The Grizzlies put the game out of reach in the 7^th though as leadoff hitter Alexis Clinton lifted a three run home to dead center field to give Butler a 13-6 lead. 

Seward picked up a pair of hits in the 7^th, but couldn't push anything across and in so, fell by the score of 13-6 in the opener. 

Butler outhit Seward 14-8 in the game, also benefitting from seven walks in the win.  Corrales was one of few bright spots in the game for the Lady Saints, going a perfect 4 for 4 with a home run and two runs scored in the defeat.  Batts also had a solid game one, going 2 for 3 with a double and two runs scored.  Kelly Kearney took the loss in the circle, allowing 14 hits and 13 runs, 12 earned, while walking seven and striking out three to fall to 10-8 on the year. 

SEWARD COUNTY/#7 BUTLER GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Seward starter Jaidyn Mawhinney kept the Grizzly bats quiet for the first two innings of game two, but the Lady Saints bats couldn't come through with a timely hit, leaving three on through their first two innings to keep the game scoreless at 0-0. 

Butler broke through first, putting together a two out rally in the 3^rd to score twice and plate the first runs of the game to make it 2-0 Grizzlies. 

It remained a 2-0 game to the 5^th when Butler struck again, getting back to back two out hits from the middle of their lineup to add another run to make it 3-0. 

The Lady Saints couldn't do anything with a leadoff single in their half of the 5^th and the Grizzlies were back at their two out magic as the 6^th inning got underway.  This time it was four straight two out hits for Butler, scoring five runs to blow the game open to 8-0. 

Seward again got their leadoff man on in the 6^th, but also once again, couldn't move her from first as two pop outs and a groundout ended the inning and in turn the game due to the run rule in an 8-0 Butler win. 

The Lady Saints managed just four hits in the loss while Butler pounded out 11 and also used six Seward walks to do their damage.  Corrales had two of the Lady Saints four hits in the game, finishing the day an impressive 6 for 7.  Mawhinney took the loss, falling to 7-9 on the year as she allowed 11 hits and eight runs, seven earned in 5 2/3 innings of work. 

SEWARD COUNTY/#7 BUTLER GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The Lady Saints remain winless in Jayhawk West play after the sweep, falling to 0-8 in league action, their worst start to conference play in program history, while seeing their overall record dip to 17-23.  Butler on the other hand, takes over the Jayhawk West lead at 11-1 with the victories and improves their 2016 record to a sparkling 26-4. 

Seward will travel to Dodge City Saturday to try to get things going before returning home to take on Garden City and Barton in a four game home stand next week.