Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
9-12
Omaha
8-8
Softball recap: Rams take 2 in home opener
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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CSU-Nebraska Omaha Box Score| CSU-Drake Box Score|Tournament Central
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - After seeing cancelations to its games on Friday, Colorado State finally got to play in front of its home fans, and did not disappoint, defeating both Nebraska Omaha and Drake on Saturday.
"It was a great day for us," Head Coach Jen Fisher said. "It felt good to be home, and to finally get some games in. I again want to thank our tremendous grounds crew, who worked tirelessly so that we could play this weekend. We played two good games today, and had to battle back in both, which I liked to see out of our team."
Game 1: Colorado State 5, Nebraska Omaha 4
In the first game of the day, CSU trailed 2-0 in the first inning, but was quickly able to take the lead. The Mavericks scored twice in the top of the first, taking advantage of two CSU errors, but the Rams scored three times in their half of the inning.
Leadoff hitter Haley Hutton started the rally with an infield single, and Haley David followed with a base hit. The two would move up when Danielle Wikre walked, loading the bases for Jaelyn Manzanares, who brought in Hutton with an RBI groundout. With two outs, freshman Savannah Clark doubled down the left-field line, scoring both David and Wikre. It was Clark's first at-bat at Ram Field. She finished the day with four RBI over the two games.
Both team's bats went silent in the second and the third, before Nebraska Omaha regained the lead in the fourth inning, scoring two runs on two hits and a CSU error. CSU then tied the game at 4-4 in its half of the inning when Haley Hutton laid down a beautiful bunt to score her older sister Taylor Hutton, who had singled.
Then in the sixth inning, the Rams took the lead for good. Sophomore Taryn Arcarese doubled to left field with one out, and scored on a David single. Junior Holly Reinke would shut down the Mavericks in order in the seventh inning to secure the win. Reinke tossed a complete game, picking up her third-consecutive victory. She allowed two earned runs while allowing just four hits and one walk.
"I though Holly came out looked really relaxed and comfortable, which was good to see," Fisher said. "She pitched well and just chugged along during the whole game."
Compared to Nebraska Omaha's four hits, CSU had 11, coming from seven different batters.
Game 2: Colorado State 8, Drake 4
With no turnaround time, the Rams took the field again, this time facing the Drake Bulldogs (8-9).
Drake got off to a hot start, scoring two runs before CSU could record an out. After a leadoff single, Megan Sowa hit a home run to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage. The next batter would double, forcing the Rams to bring in senior Molly Randle to relieve starter Trinity Harrington. The inherited runner would score, but Randle would shut down the Bulldogs to end the frame.
After a scoreless second, Drake tacked on an additional run in the third - a Rebekah Schmidt home run - to put the Bulldogs on top, 4-0. In the bottom half of the inning, though, CSU's offense would break out and take the momentum.
The offensive drive started when CSU loaded the bases via a Taryn Arcarese hit by pitch, Haley Hutton single and Haley David walk. With the bases juiced, senior Shae Rodriguez would get the Rams on the board with a two-run single. She stole second to get into scoring position, and then would score, along with David, when freshman Savannah Clark doubled down the right-field line. The Rams took their first lead later in the inning when freshmen Madison Kilcrease singled to bring Clark home.
While Randle continued to dominate the Bulldogs in the circle, CSU added a sixth run in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Kilcrease was able to score on a passed ball before David scored her third run of the game on a Rodriguez base hit.
Over the final four innings, Randle allowed just a single hit, in addition to three walks, to keep the lead in the Rams' favor. She finished the game with the win (3-1), tossing seven innings and allowing just one earned run and four hits. The Rams out-hit the Bulldogs, 10-7, including three from Hutton and two each from Rodriguez - who drove in three - and Kilcrease.
"For Molly to come in like that and wear them out was great to see," Fisher said. "I think Coach (Dedeann) Pendelton-Helm thought UNO would struggle more with the different speeds since Molly is able to mix in some really great off-speed pitches. I think she did a great job keeping them off balance."
The tournament continues Sunday, with four games scheduled at Ram Field. The Rams will once again take on Drake (11:15 a.m. MT), before facing Valparaiso (3:45 p.m.). On the weekend, CSU is 2-0, Nebraska Omaha is 2-1, Drake is 1-1 and Valparaiso is 0-2. Admission to all games is free.
"One thing that was consistent was our base running," Fisher said. "We have some really fast ladies that are doing an exceptional job. They are running the bases really hard, and I feel like we're executing. I'm feeling comfortable with that since we didn't have it in the past. They put in a lot of extra work. I think we were lucky because we blooped in some balls, and I think the 10 hits are not indicative of what we've done. We've had that happen to us before and now we dinked them to death where we had several infield hits and a couple that fell in front of the outfield. We want to get back to the cage and work on squaring up balls better than what we did."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Reinke, Holly (5-8)
L: Nielsen (0-2)
Batting:
RBI: Ditto 1 ; Trede 1
SH: Warren 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mathewson 1 ; Mancuso 1 ; Schwarting 1 ; Pattison 1
SB: Trede 1
Batting:
2B: Clark, Savannah 1 ; Arcarese, Taryn 1
RBI: Hutton, Haley 1 ; David, Haley 1 ; Manzanares, Jaelyn 1 ; Clark, Savannah 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hutton, Haley 1 ; David, Haley 1 ; Wikre, Danielle 1 ; Hutton, Taylor 1 ; Arcarese, Taryn 1
SB: Arcarese, Taryn 1
