University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Saturday, April 6
Greeley, Colo.
12 PM
University of Northern Colorado
9-28, 4-4
9
vs
1
Idaho State
14-20, 4-4
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Idaho State
0
0
1
0
0
1
5
2
Northern Colorado
4
0
4
1
X
9
10
1
Photo by: Dean Popejoy
@BearsSoftball Completes Sweep of Bengals on Saturday
4/6/2019 3:10:00 PM | Softball
Northern Colorado had a big turnaround weekend at home and moved up in the Big Sky Standings
The home stand for Northern Colorado softball payed dividends, as the team swept completed the sweep of Idaho State on Saturday afternoon with a 9-1. UNC reached .500 in the Big Sky after defeating the Bengals in five innings, by way of the eight-run rule.
"We've been playing great defense and pitching, but today we had our hitting joining the party," said head coach Ben Garcia. "Natalie [Joyner]'s big hit really got us going and we steamrolled from there. We have been getting closer and closer this season, but we love playing at home. We've had some things against us this year. I think believing is important and the girls never stopped believing, along with the coaches. We're finally seeing that around and starting to be noticed that things are working. We wanted to have two pitchers that had different styles and we were able to keep their hitters off balance today."
Taylor Puga proved a good matchup against Idaho St. on Friday and started in the circle on Saturday. Opposite of Puga was the Bengals Mariah Mulcahy.
Puga shutout the Bengals in the first two innings to keep her strong weekend going.
The Bears jumped on Mulcahy quickly, with four runs on four hits in the bottom of the first. Natalie Joyner hit a lead-off triple and Kenzie Kudrna would then double in the next at bat to bring her into score. Hailee Swanson stepped up to the plate and singled to left field, allowing Kudrna to score.
It was Emma Brockmann's turn to make some noise and she delivered with a two-run, home run to right field. UNC was up 4-0 after one inning.
Puga was in some trouble in the top of the third, after giving up a lead-off double to Jayden DeMoss. A double from Idaho St.'s Haley Harrison would bring DeMoss to score and the lead was trimmed to 4-1. Maggie Thurston came into replace Puga and limited any additional damage.
The Bears responded in force in the bottom of the third, scoring four more runs to build an 8-1 lead. Katie Simonsgaard tripled to left field that scored Swanson. A Bengal fielding error allowed Simonsgaard to score from third. Joyner came up with another big hit, doubling to right field that scored Cheyenne Talmadge and Alyssa Huerta.
UNC now had an 8-1 lead after three complete innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brockmann doubled to left field, and Taylor Renaud came in as a pinch runner, with the Bears looking to extend the lead to eight runs. Simonsgaard came through once again with a double to right field, bringing in Renaud for the Bears ninth run.
Heading to the top of the fifth inning, UNC led by eight runs and could end the game early. Idaho picked up double from MaKenzie Van Sickle. The hit prompted a pitching change for the Bears, as Valerie Vidal came in to close out the game.
Vidal retired the next two batters, including one strikeout, to secure the win and series sweep for UNC. Thurston earned her second win of the season after pitching 1.2 shutout innings.
"We really bought into the philosophy on the basics this week in practice," Garcia added. "It's exciting and it gives us an opportunity to reach our goals. We have set ourselves up to have a chance to get to the tournament and win the conference."
Game Notes
Next At-Bat
Northern Colorado will host Metro State on Tuesday, April 9th for one game, with first pitch scheduled for 5 pm MST. UNC will then get back to Big Sky competition with a three-game series against Southern Utah on the road next weekend.
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"We've been playing great defense and pitching, but today we had our hitting joining the party," said head coach Ben Garcia. "Natalie [Joyner]'s big hit really got us going and we steamrolled from there. We have been getting closer and closer this season, but we love playing at home. We've had some things against us this year. I think believing is important and the girls never stopped believing, along with the coaches. We're finally seeing that around and starting to be noticed that things are working. We wanted to have two pitchers that had different styles and we were able to keep their hitters off balance today."
Taylor Puga proved a good matchup against Idaho St. on Friday and started in the circle on Saturday. Opposite of Puga was the Bengals Mariah Mulcahy.
Puga shutout the Bengals in the first two innings to keep her strong weekend going.
The Bears jumped on Mulcahy quickly, with four runs on four hits in the bottom of the first. Natalie Joyner hit a lead-off triple and Kenzie Kudrna would then double in the next at bat to bring her into score. Hailee Swanson stepped up to the plate and singled to left field, allowing Kudrna to score.
It was Emma Brockmann's turn to make some noise and she delivered with a two-run, home run to right field. UNC was up 4-0 after one inning.
Puga was in some trouble in the top of the third, after giving up a lead-off double to Jayden DeMoss. A double from Idaho St.'s Haley Harrison would bring DeMoss to score and the lead was trimmed to 4-1. Maggie Thurston came into replace Puga and limited any additional damage.
The Bears responded in force in the bottom of the third, scoring four more runs to build an 8-1 lead. Katie Simonsgaard tripled to left field that scored Swanson. A Bengal fielding error allowed Simonsgaard to score from third. Joyner came up with another big hit, doubling to right field that scored Cheyenne Talmadge and Alyssa Huerta.
UNC now had an 8-1 lead after three complete innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brockmann doubled to left field, and Taylor Renaud came in as a pinch runner, with the Bears looking to extend the lead to eight runs. Simonsgaard came through once again with a double to right field, bringing in Renaud for the Bears ninth run.
Heading to the top of the fifth inning, UNC led by eight runs and could end the game early. Idaho picked up double from MaKenzie Van Sickle. The hit prompted a pitching change for the Bears, as Valerie Vidal came in to close out the game.
Vidal retired the next two batters, including one strikeout, to secure the win and series sweep for UNC. Thurston earned her second win of the season after pitching 1.2 shutout innings.
"We really bought into the philosophy on the basics this week in practice," Garcia added. "It's exciting and it gives us an opportunity to reach our goals. We have set ourselves up to have a chance to get to the tournament and win the conference."
Game Notes
- Natalie Joyner, Kenzie Kudrna, Emma Brockmann and Katie Simonsgaard each recorded two hits on Saturday. Joyner, Brockmann and Simonsgaard also had two RBIs and scored one run in the game.
- UNC had eight different players score runs in the game. Hailee Swanson scored two to lead the team.
- The Bears pitchers combined for a strong pitching day, with starter Taylor Puga pitching 2.2 innings with one earned run, while Vidal got the final two outs. Thurston picked up her second career win out of the bullpen as well.
- UNC hitters only strikeout one time, while also only walking one time.
Next At-Bat
Northern Colorado will host Metro State on Tuesday, April 9th for one game, with first pitch scheduled for 5 pm MST. UNC will then get back to Big Sky competition with a three-game series against Southern Utah on the road next weekend.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Thurston, Maggie (2-8)
L: MULCAHY, Mariah (3-8)
Batting:
2B: VAN SICKLE, MaKenzie 1 ; HARRISON, Haley 1 ; DEMOSS, Jayden 1
RBI: HARRISON, Haley 1
SF: CREEKMORE, Aubrey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DEMOSS, Jayden 1
SB: HARRISON, Haley 1 ; CREEKMORE, Aubrey 1
Batting:
2B: Joyner, Natalie 1 ; Kudrna, Kenzie 2 ; Brockmann, Emma 1 ; Simonsgaard, Katie 1
3B: Joyner, Natalie 1 ; Simonsgaard, Katie 1
HR: Brockmann, Emma 1
RBI: Joyner, Natalie 2 ; Kudrna, Kenzie 1 ; Swanson, Hailee 1 ; Brockmann, Emma 2 ; Simonsgaard, Katie 2
SH: Young, Mady 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Joyner, Natalie 1 ; Kudrna, Kenzie 1 ; Swanson, Hailee 2 ; Brockmann, Emma 1 ; Renaud, Taylor 1 ; Simonsgaard, Katie 1 ; Huerta, Alyssa 1 ; Talmadge, Cheyenne 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
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UTL
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UTL
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UTL
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