Recap: @bearssoftball Tops Pacific, Comes Up Short Against Seattle

Friday, February 23

Stockton, CA

2:15 pm

University of Northern Colorado

5-6

Seattle

7-4

Seattle

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Ed Navarro

2/23/2018 11:23:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Northern Colorado stays .500 after the first games in the Libby Matson Tournament

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

STOCKTON, Calif.- Northern Colorado softball went 1-1 in the first day of the Libby Matson Tournament. UNC (6-6) started the day with a 7-4 loss to Seattle, but made adjustments later in the day to defeat host Pacific, 5-2.

The Bears managed to put together solid pitching and timely hitting against the Tigers, after struggling from the circle against the Redhawks.

Northern Colorado-Seattle
Valerie Vidal was in the circle for the first game of the day and she faced off against Seattle's Andie Larkins. The Redhawks got to Vidal early when Savannah Loomis singled to drive in Ally Choate for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Vidal would settle down in the second inning and set the Redhawks hitters down in order. UNC would then get their bats going in the second, after Emma Brockmann walked and Kenzie Kudrna singled to put two on with one out. Brockmann would score after Rachel Johnson singled and Seattle committed an error to allow her to score from second base. Madi Schmidt was next up and she delivered with a single to right that allowed Kudrna and Johnson to score. UNC had a 3-1 lead after two innings.

The Redhawks would respond in the top of the third and loaded the bases against Vidal with two outs. Loomis would reach on an error from Johnson, that also allowed two runs to score and tie the game at three.

UNC would get a baserunner in third, fourth, and fifth innings, but could not string together enough hits to get any of them around to score. Larkins limited the damage in five innings of work, allowing three runs with only one being earned. She gave up seven hits and four walks, while striking out two.

Seattle broke the tie in the top of the fifth inning, when Madison Cathcart hit a two-run homer off of Vidal and the Tigers jumped in front of UNC 5-3. The homer prompted a pitching change and Vidal was replaced in the circle by Chandler Elsner.

The Redhawks added to their lead in the top of the sixth after Choate tripled to right center with one out. Kaylee Ree would manage to get an infield single to score Choate. Loomis would single to left field and score Ree from second. UNC was down 7-3 with six outs left to work with.

After the Bears were retired in order during the bottom of the sixth, they found their offense again in the bottom of the seventh. Mady Young would work a lead-off walk and after a ground out advanced her to second, Kaley Garcia would come up with the clutch single to drive in the run. Lauren Paige would be hit by a pitch from Carley Nance. Jordyn Wiatrak would single to load the bases for UNC with one out. Nance was able to get Brockmann to line out to center field, followed by Garcia being thrown out at the plate to end the game.

Northern Colorado's fielding struggled in the game with four errors, while the lineup stranded 10 runners on base.

Northern Colorado-Pacific
Lauren Paige got the nod to start in the circle for UNC in the night contest, facing the Tigers' Marissa Young. Pacific started the scoring early, with Talli Shepherd scoring on a wild pitch from Lauren Paige to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

It did not take long for UNC to get on the board, as Madi Schmidt came up with a clutch, two-out double into left center that scored Kenzie Kudrna and Jordyn Wiatrak. The Bears jumped ahead of the Tiger 2-1 after two innings. Paige settled into a groove and limited Pacific to a pair of baserunners between the second and fourth innings.

UNC kept the bats swinging in the top of the fourth, with Mady Young getting another two-out double to score Schmidt and extend the lead to 3-1.

Paige found herself in trouble during the bottom of the fifth, hitting Ralene Estrada to start the inning. Pacific scored a run on a UNC error and lead shrunk to 3-2, with two baserunners still on second and third. Paige was able to limit the damage and escaped the inning still holding the lead.

The Bears added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh after four consecutive singles to start the inning. Kaley Garcia and Paige both delivered RBI hits to give UNC a 5-2 lead going to the final half-inning of the game. Paige closed out the Tigers in the bottom of the seventh and earned her first win of the season.

Lauren Paige was key in the win, pitching a complete game, while allowing two runs on seven hits. She struck out four, walked one, and hit one batter. UNC's lineup provided timely hits, going 4-12 with runners in scoring position and 2-9 with two outs that resulted in two runs.

In their Words
Shana Easley, Head Coach
"With both games I was happy with our consistent offense and we did better job in game two finding ways to score our runner on base. Lauren Paige had a good outing in the circle getting the complete game and keeping a Pacific's strong hitters off balance and guessing."

Notes

Lauren Paige earned her first career complete game. Paige also went 3-for-6 Friday, with one RBI and a walk. She leads the Bears with a .387 average this season.
Kaley Garcia went 4-for-8 on the day with two RBIs and one double. She is tied with Paige for the team lead in RBIs with 17 on the season and also leads the team with five doubles.
Northern Colorado committed six errors in the two games today and has 16 total this season.
Mady Young continues to do her job from the lead-off spot, going 3-for-6 with one RBI and two runs scored. She also walked twice and leads the team with 11 walks, along with a .500 on base percentage.

Next Up
Northern Colorado resumes play Saturday afternoon against Nevada at 1:15 P.M. (MT). UNC takes on Pacific later in the evening at 5:45 P.M. Live stats for each game are provided by PacificTigers.com or follow the game live on Twitter with @bearssoftball.