Senior Erin Sailors registered a career-high tying 13 K's that included seven over the game's opening three innings today against CSU East Bay.
Trio Helps Lead Corban to Sweep over Pioneers of Cal State East Bay
SALEM, Ore. – Senior Erin Sailors (Anchorage, Alaska) struck out a career-high tying 13 batters to go along with junior Rachel Steigleman's (Eugene, Ore.) 3-for-6 performance and sophomore Jessie Jones' 3-for-7 showing, as Corban's softball team swept the visiting Pioneers of California State University East Bay, 3-2 & 5-0, Friday afternoon on Warrior Field.
"Overall, I think we put forth a good effort," said second-year head coach Nathan Ohta. "(The key to today's games) were our pitchers, as Sailors and Brittany both threw well which kept the pressure off our defense and offense. We did not pick up a ton of hits, but we played our short game well and gave us a chance to score runs."
In the opener, Corban put up a single run in the bottom of the first inning as Jones reached via a lead-off error before stealing second. One batter later, Jones advanced to third via sophomore Jennifer Kollaer’s ground out to second. The next batter, Steigleman, took an 0-2 curve ball back up the middle that allowed Jones to score and put the home team up 1-0.
Three innings later, the host Warriors got a pair of runs as Kollaer and Steigleman led off the inning with back-to-back hits before Kollaer came home via an infield single by junior Jessica Schell (Portland, Ore.) that plated Corban’s third run of the afternoon. With runners on first and third, Ohta called for a double steal that was executed perfectly by Schell and Steigleman and put the Warriors up by three runs (3-0) after four innings.
In the top of the sixth inning, East Bay got on the board thanks to a lead off single by Alyssa Johnson that broke up Sailors’ no-hitter. Two batters later with Johnson on third via a ground out and wild pitch, Sam Sciutto singled to left field to put the visiting Pioneers on the board for the first time all afternoon.
Sitting within striking distance at 3-1 heading into its final at-bat, Cal State East Bay plated another run in the top of the seventh via a Johnson double to right field with two outs. With runners on second and third, the Pioneers’ Jesse Peterson induced a game-ending ground out to short en route to the Warriors picking up their first win of the season by a single run (3-2).
In Game #1, Jones and Steigleman registered two hits each with Jones scoring a run to go along with Steigleman’s one-run, one-RBI performance. Sailors went the distance for Corban, as she allowed two earned runs on five hits to go along with her career-high tying strikeout performance.
East Bay was led by Johnson, who registered two hits and an RBI. In the circle, Kendra Mason pitched all 6.0 innings for the Pioneers allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits to go along with four K’s.
In the night cap, neither team could get on the board until the third inning when Corban plated a single run via a sacrifice fly to center field by junior Rebecca Franke (Pendleton, Ore.) that plated freshman Brittany Wagner (Oregon City, Ore.). Wagner had gotten on via a walk before advancing to second on senior Megan Gaylord’s (Portland, Ore.) fielder’s choice that got freshman Twyla Baggarley (Hillsboro, Ore.) out at third. Jones then loaded the bases via a single to center field before Wagner came home on Franke’s fly out.
In the fourth inning, the host Warriors drove home a pair of runs via Wagner’s double to right field that plated Schell and senior Karlee Sisler (Corvallis, Ore.). Sisler opened the inning with a walk before Schell reached via a bunt infield single. Both runners advanced one base on Baggarley’s ground out to short to set up Wagner’s hitting heroics.
Corban then put single runs on the scoreboard in both the fifth and sixth innings, as Jones scored via a wild pitch to start the scoring before junior Jessica Pierce (Kennewick, Wash.) scored the game’s final run via a throwing error when the Pioneers attempted to throw out Wagner on a steal attempt.
Four different Warriors – Jones, Steigleman, Schell, and Wagner – registered hits in the finale, as Wagner went the distance in the circle and allowed no runs on three hits to go along with three strikeouts.
East Bay was led by three different players – Justine Watson, Peterson, and Nicole Alameda – that registered a hit each, while Peterson went the distance for the Pioneers and allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits to go along with a game-high five K’s.
With the double header sweep, Corban improves to 2-4 on the season. Meanwhile, Cal State East Bay falls to 0-2 after the opening day of a three-day, six-game road trip to Oregon. The same two teams will meet on Saturday, February 14th, in another double header that begins at 12:00 p.m. on Warrior Field.