Softball | 3/16/2018 1:38:00 PM
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Salina, Kan.—Despite hitting four home runs and three doubles on Thursday's two-game outing at Kansas Wesleyan, Panhandle State softball returned to Goodwell with two losses added to their record. The Aggies held the lead in both contests, but fell 5-3 in game one and 9-7 in game two, after giving up three three-run innings to the Coyotes over the course of the doubleheader.
Senior
Julia Ibarra owned the loss in the first seven-inning stint, taking ten hits and five earned runs over 29 batters faced. First base was left untouched by both teams in the first inning, as zero hits were allowed by either defense. First baseman
Brooklyne Bolton shot off a solo homer to lead off the top of the second for the Aggies. An additional run was brought in by Ibarra with an RBI single on two outs to score
Jaylinn Reyes; Reyes reached on a single as the second to the plate for Panhandle. The Coyotes left two runners on base in the bottom half of the inning to hold the Aggies 2-0 lead going into the third.
Bolton blasted out another home run in the third inning to edge the Aggies ahead 3-0, but KWU took a double down right-center and followed up with a two-run homer of their own to narrow the gap to one run (3-2). Three Aggies in a row went down and only one hit was allowed to the Coyotes for an empty fourth inning. Panhandle State would get their last two hits of the game in the fifth with both runners left stranded on base. The Coyotes collected their final three runs in the bottom of the fifth on two RBI-singles and a sacrifice fly to claim the game one victory 5-3.
Game two got off to an even start as each team scored two runs in the first inning and one in the second to stand tied at 3-3 entering the third inning of play. Sophomore
Emily Worley took the circle for Panhandle State for the first three innings, with five hits and three earned runs to her name. She finished out the third turn leaving two Coyotes on base for zero runs scored. The Aggies also went scoreless in the third as centerfielder
Jewell Lee was the only batter to reach base. Short stop
Jena Konieczka took base on balls to open the top of the fourth, and catcher
Haleigh Scott backed up Konieczka with a double to right-center. Konieczka was put out making a break for home plate on a fielder's choice play with designated player
Brissa Rivera at bat. Worley took the second walk of the inning to re-load the bases for right fielder
Abby Gregory; Gregory scored Scott with a steady eye on another base on balls. In the middle of the fourth, the Aggies held a 4-3 advantage over their opponents and junior
Lindsay Jacobs entered the circle for OPSU.
Jacobs opened with a ground ball to second base for the first out, but then gave up back-to-back singles and a three-run homer to turn the lead over to KWU (6-4). The Coyotes held the Aggies off in the fifth with three hitters reaching base, but zero runs coming through; Scott's double to centerfield on two outs was fruitless as a fly-out ended the inning. Jacobs and the Panhandle defense returned token in-kind with three straight fly-outs in the bottom of the fifth. Gregory and Lee each hit singles in the sixth and Gregory was sent home on a sacrifice fly from
Faith Guzman gaining one-run closer (6-5) to the Coyotes. The deficit grew to four (9-5) as the home team brought in three runs in the sixth inning off a two-run double and an RBI-single. The Aggies made a crack at a comeback in the seventh, scoring two runs early in the inning.
Jaylinn Reyes led off with a walk and was pushed to third on a double by
Jena Konieczka on the next at-bat. Konieczka and pinch runner
Brileigh Murphree each plated runs off a two-RBI single from
Haleigh Scott, but the score would stand at 9-7 as a double play and ground-out left two Aggies stranded. Jacobs finished 3.0 innings with five hits and six earned runs on her watch.
Freshman
Haleigh Scott and senior
Brooklyne Bolton each put in perfect performances at the plate in respective games; Scott went 4-4 for three RBI and two runs in game two and Bolton went 2-2 with two runs and two RBI in game one. The pair collected extra bases with three homeruns and two doubles between them. For the day, the Aggies carried a .291 batting average, while Kansas Wesleyan hit at .377 over their 12-inning stint. The Coyotes added extra bases with four doubles and two homers in the series. Panhandle's fielders kept errors to a minimum, committing just one infield error on the day; their opponents were charged with two errors, one each game.
The Aggies stand in the middle of the Sonner Athletic Conference standings as they re-enter league play next week with two SAC series. Panhandle State softball holds a 12-15 record on the season with a 5-5 record within the conference. The Aggies will host No. 7 Oklahoma City University for a doubleheader at home on Tuesday, March 20 at 2 p.m.; the team then travels back downstate for a four-game series against a No. 3-ranked University of Science and Arts March 23-24 in Chickasha. Fridays DH begins at 4 p.m. with games on Saturday starting at Noon.
