Lady Badgers split four games

in recent Nevada tournament

 

By Doug Johnson

Staff writer

Mar. 8, 2018

 

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Lady Badgers of Snow College came out of the starting gate swinging last weekend as they opened softball play in the Scenic West Athletic Conference with a four-game split at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN).

The Lady Badgers pounded out 67 hits in the series as they won the second game both days, 15-10 on Friday, March 2, and 13-7 on Saturday, March 3.

But early-season jitters in the field let CSN win the first game each day with seventh-inning walk-offs, 13-12 in Friday’s opener and 8-6 on Saturday.

Snow’s sophomore infielder Dakota Hare went 12 for 18 in the series to raise her season batting average to .560.

Hare also was selected as the Scenic West Athletic Player of the Week for performance, including a .667 hitting average.

Lady Badger Sydnie Wilson was nine for 16 at the plate with seven RBI, and shortstop Torri Bills finished eight for 16 with six runs scored.

Snow freshman Brooke Brown was nine for 18 with seven RBI and a home run, her ninth round-tripper of the season.

And Lady Badger sophomore Haylie Smith went five for 10 with a pair of homers and five RBI to raise her batting average to .433.

Not having a game in three weeks showed in the series opener as the Lady Badgers put themselves into a monumental hole by giving up 11 runs in the bottom of the first inning.

But sophomore lefty Riley Cleverly came in to stop the bleeding and held the Lady Coyotes scoreless on only one hit through the next five innings to let the Lady Badgers’ bats get them back into the game.

Snow finally took the lead in the top of the seventh when they scored three runs highlighted by back-to-back doubles by Sarah Sandberg and Hare.

But CSN scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the inning to take back the 13-12 win.

Hare finished four for five in the game, and Brown was three for four.

Haleigh Olive drove in four runs with a triple and a homer to lead CSN.

Friday’s second game was another slugfest with the teams again combining for 25 runs while pounding out 28 hits, 16 of the hits coming off Snow’s bats.

The offensive fireworks caused both of Friday’s games to run long and the second game to be halted for darkness in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Snow finished off a 15-10 win the next morning before Saturday’s games.

Freshman Morgan Ashley led the Lady Badgers at the plate going three for three with a pair of doubles.

Snow’s Smith went three for five with a home run and three RBI, while Hare was two for four, also with three RBI.

Freshman Sadie Clark was the winning pitcher for Snow, giving up only four earned runs as the Lady Badger gloves committed four costly errors in the field.

Kiana Burnett led the Lady Coyotes with three of her team’s 12 hits.

Compared to the other three games, Saturday’s opener had to be considered a pitching duel with the Lady Coyotes again pulling out a walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh.

The 8-6 final score was the only time Snow was held below double-digit scoring in the series, but the Badgers still pounded out a dozen hits.

Snow starter Sydni Sorensen held the Lady Coyotes to five runs through the first six innings, and the Lady Badgers scored three times in the top of the seventh to take a 6-4 lead.

But after CSN’s Tayzha Meyers led off the bottom of the inning with a double, Cleverly came on in relief and gave up homers to Olive and Daryan Meade to let the Lady Coyotes claim the comeback win.

Hare, Brown, Bills and Avery Shields all had two hits in the game for Snow.

The series finale went into the seventh inning tied at seven, but the Badgers were in no mood to go extra innings with bad weather forecast for their six-hour bus ride home.

So they scored six runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach, 13-7.

The rally was highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Wilson and Smith, Wilson finishing the game three for five at the plate with four RBI.

Snow finished with a season-high 21 hits as a team, matching their biggest offensive output from all of last year.

Clark was the starter for Snow, giving way to Cleverly, who held the Lady Coyotes scoreless over the last two innings while striking out three.

Hare ended the series the way she began it, going four for five at the plate while scoring twice and driving in two runs.

This week, the 10-4 Badgers are scheduled to finally play a game at home as the Golden Eagles of College of Southern Idaho (CSI) visit Ephraim for doubleheaders beginning at 1 p.m. tomorrow and at noon on Saturday.

CSI is 12-6 on the season after splitting a series against Salt Lake Community College last week.