Recap: The Lineup Powers @bearssoftball to Sweep Sac St on Friday

Friday, March 23

Greeley, CO

1 pm

University of Northern Colorado

19-15, 1-0

Sacramento State

14-9, 0-1

Sacramento State

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Janie Jones

3/23/2018 8:11:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Northern Colorado's offense again showed what it can do with a pair of dominating performances against the Hornets

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo.- Northern Colorado softball's hitters put on a display Friday, as they won the first two games of a three game series against Sacramento State. UNC (20-15) defeated the Hornets 12-4 in the first game, after ending in the sixth inning with the eight run rule. The Bears followed the win up by holding off a late rally from Sacramento State to win 9-8 in the second game.

Game 1

Valerie Vidal would start the first game of the doubleheader for UNC and the Hornets would have Celina Matthias in the circle to oppose her. Sac St got on the board in the first inning after Nene Alas scored from third on a failed rundown play on Suzy Brookshire.

The Bears bats started early against Matthias, loading the bases with no outs. Lauren Paige would be hit by a pitch to score UNC's first run of the game and a sacrifice fly from Jordyn Wiatrak would bring the second run in for a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the second inning, UNC struck again with two runs by way of an RBI triple from Madi Schmidt and an RBI double from Kaley Garcia. UNC had built a 4-1 lead after two innings.

Sac St. found its bats in the top of the third, scoring three runs on three hits off of Vidal to get the Hornets within one of the Bears. The Hornets first five batters reached base in the inning, with two walks, two singles and a double.

The game was calm until the bottom of the fourth when Schmidt again delivered for the Bears with a double to left field that scored Sophia Taylor and Kenzie Kudrna. UNC built a 6-4 lead over Sac St after four innings.

In the bottom of the sixth, UNC's lineup had seen enough of the game and decided to end it that inning. The Bears exploded for six runs on four hits to allow the eight run rule to come into effect and giving UNC the 12-4 win. UNC scored two on a Mady Young double, one on a Emma Brockmann double, and one with a Wiatrak RBI single. Taylor would score after Schmidt walked with the bases loaded.

Northern Colorado won a game in only six innings for the third time in the last four games.

Game 2

In game two the double header, Chandler Elsner would start in the circle for the Bears and went against Savanna Corr from Sac St. The Hornets would again take an early lead on UNC, with a fielder's choice, followed by an RBI single from Sydney Rasmussen. Sac St was up 2-0 on the Bears after the first inning.

Corr was stingy for the Hornets out of the gate, limiting UNC to a pair of hits in the first three innings. Elsner settled down after the first inning trouble, allowing only a two baserunners in the next four innings.

The bottom of the fourth was another offensive show from the UNC hitters, starting out with Kaley Garcia getting hit by a pitch and Lauren Paige singling through the left side. A Mady Young fielder's choice would score Garcia to get UNC on the scoreboard. Emma Brockmann would bring in another run with an RBI single to center field and a Hornets fielding error would allow another run to come in for the Bears. Kenzie Kudrna would walk with the bases loaded to keep the rally going and Sophia Taylor would single up the middle to pile it on for the Bears. Madi Schmidt would single up the middle to score two more runs and Kaley Garcia would single down the right field run for another two. UNC scored eight runs on six hits to take an 8-2 lead over Sac St.

The Hornets would get back into the game in the top of the sixth inning with four runs on two hits, aided by two UNC errors to bring the score to 8-6.

The Bears would tack on a key insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Jordyn Wiatrak singled to right field to score Taylor. UNC was up 9-6 going to the final frame of the game.

Sac St started the top of the seventh with a single and a double to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Elsner would be pulled from the game and replaced in the circle by Paige. A wild pitch from Paige would close the gap to 9-7 for the Hornets. A sacrifice fly from the Hornets would get them within one of UNC, but Paige was able to close out the game. The Bears went on to win the game 9-8.

In their words
Shana Easley, Head Coach

Overall thoughts on the day
"I thought we did a good job today of being resilient, which we talked about since the beginning of our season last fall. Today we had to be that to win these two games. It was good for our offense to get going and hit like were capable of hitting. Overall a good job and it was good to competing tight at the beginning of the first game and then had to in the second game. It's good for us to be in that environment."

Starting conference play
"We always want to set the tone and protect our house here in Greeley. We've been gaining some momentum in the preseason and continue to look better. This is a great start for us, but we want to be our best in May so were focusing on being better in tomorrow's game."

Notes

Northern Colorado outscored Sacramento State 21-12 and out hit them 24 -14 in the two games today.
Sophia Taylor did her job from the leadoff spotting, going 4-for-7 on the day, with five runs scored and one RBI.
Taylor, Madi Schmidt and Kenzie Kudrna all accounted for three runs scored in game one of the doubleheader.
Valerie Vidal earned her 13^th win of the season in game one, going six innings, allowing four earned runs, striking out three, and walking four.

Next Up
Northern Colorado will look for the full sweep of Sacramento State with the third game of the series starting at 1 P.M. at Gloria Rodriguez Field. Live stats are provided by UNCBears.com and follow the game live on Twitter with @bearssoftball.