Recap: Vidal Makes History, @bearssoftball Splits Games on Friday

Friday, February 16

Huntsville, TX

9 am

University of Northern Colorado

4-2

Seton Hall

3-2

Northern Colorado

Seton Hall

Photo by: Rob Trubia

2/16/2018 3:14:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Valerie Vidal pitched a no hitter in the win against Seton Hall, but UNC falls to No. 4 Washington

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

HUNTSVILLE, TX – Valerie Vidal made history for Northern Colorado softball on Friday pitching a no-hitter in a 5-0 victory against Seton Hall to open the Bearkat Softball Classic. It was the first seven-inning, no-hitter in program history and the first since April 2006, when the Bears had a five-inning no-hitter against Grambling State.

UNC faced No. 4 Washington immediately after the win and fell to the Huskies 8-0. Washington ended the game early in the sixth inning after they tacked on a run to bring the eight run rule into effect.

Northern Colorado-Seton Hall
Vidal and Reganne Camp were in a pitching duel through the first three inning of the game. Vidal retired the first six Pirate batters, before allowing a walk in the third to Jaden Tate. Mady Young led the game off with a single and Kenzie Kudrna doubled in the second, but that was all Camp allowed to the UNC lineup.

The Bears broke the tie in the fourth inning, when Jordyn Wiatrak smacked a solo shot to right center with two outs and they led 1-0.

Neither team managed a baserunner in the fifth inning, but UNC extended its lead in the top of the sixth. Kaley Garcia started out with a walk and Emma Brockmann followed it with a single to put two runners on with no outs. Lauren Paige hit into a double play on the next at bat, but Garcia was able to score for a 2-0 UNC lead.

Vidal continued her dominance of the Seton Hall lineup, retiring seven straight batters after a fourth inning walk to Alexis Walkden.

The Bears padded the lead in the top of the seventh with three runs on three hits. A lead-off walk from Kudrna and a Kelli Kleis single put runners on the corners with one out. Camp exited the game and was replaced by Chrisa Head. Rachel Johnson came in as a pinch hitter and delivered a single into right field to score Kudrna. The second run came the way of a fielder's choice from Young, that allowed Kleis to score. Cheyenne Talmadge was subbed in for Johnson and she would score on a double from Garcia, building a 5-0 UNC lead.

Vidal completed the no-hitter after striking out Alyssa Prukop in the seventh to end the game and giving UNC the 5-0 victory. Vidal struck out four, while allowing three walks to improve her record to 3-1 on the season.

Northern Colorado- No. 4 Washington
UNC had little time to rest after the first game and had to deal with the highly ranked Huskies, who played their first game of the tournament. After the Bears went down in order during the top of the first, senior Kirstyn Thomas knocked a three-run homer off of Lauren Paige and the Huskies had an early 3-0 lead.

Freshman Gabbie Plain was sharp in the circle for the Huskies and retired the first nine Bear hitters she faced.

Thomas continued to stay hot against the Bears and took Chandler Elsner deep in the bottom of the third inning with a solo shot to give Washington a 4-0 lead. The Huskies were not done in the inning and added another run on a UNC error to hold a five run lead over the Bears.

UNC threatened to get on the board in the top of the fourth after Mady Young singled and Kaley Garcia walked to put two on with no outs. Young and Garcia were the first baserunners for UNC in the game against Plain. Unfortunately, Plain was able to get three swinging strikeouts against the Bears to avoid any damage in the inning.

The Huskies struck again in the bottom of the fourth when Sis Bates hit a two-run homer off Elsner for a 7-0 lead. Washington won the game in the sixth with the eight-run rule after scoring a run on an error by the Bears.

In their words
Head Coach, Shana Easley
Game 1
"Val had an outstanding game for us. It's been great to see her compete well and be so consistent to start off the season. Jordyn had a big hit to get our momentum going on offense. After that we settled in as a team and were able to have multiple people making quality contact on the ball."

Game 2
"I was pleased with the performance of Mady and Natalie as freshman coming into this game and having solid approaches on the both offense and defense. Washington was a good challenge for us and give credit to their hitters because they were hitting pitches well that our pitchers were throwing out of the strike zone"

Notes

Valerie Vidal lowered her ERA to 0.88 on the season and has a 15:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Jordyn Wiatrak hit her first home run of the season after hitting 10 last season. Wiatrak also leads the Bears with seven RBIs.
Natalie Joyner single against Washington was her first career hit at UNC.

Next Up
Northern Colorado resumes tournament play tomorrow at 9 A.M. (MT) against Wichita State and then faces host Sam Houston State at 3:45 P.M. The game against Sam Houston State will be streamed live on ESPN3 and live stats for both games are provided by GoBearkats.com. Follow the games live on twitter with @bearssoftball.