Amy Rhoades hit her second career walk-off HR
Rhoades Walk-Off Homer Helps C of I Split with OIT
CALDWELL, Idaho - Amy Rhoades hit a walk-off home run to win Game 1 for The College of Idaho, but Oregon Tech used a three-run fourth inning to pull away in the late game, as the two Cascade Conference rivals battled at Symms Field.
The Lady Yotes (15-14, 7-3 CCC) picked up a 2-1 win in eight innings in the opener, while OIT outlasted The C of I, 6-2, in the nightcap.
Tech (14-13, 4-6) took an early 1-0 lead in Game 1, as Brittany Warren laced an RBI double off the centerfield wall - one of only three hits allowed by Coyote starter, Jody Zillner. After failing to plate runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the second and fourth, the Yotes finally cracked the scoreboard in the fifth, as a two-out RBI single by Rhoades tied the game, then won the game in the eighth, as the junior turned on a fastball and yacked the ball over the fence, just inside the foul pole.
Zillner picked up the win for the Lady Yotes, striking out 12 in the victory, with Rhoades the lone player for either team with a multi-hit game.
Game 2 saw OIT plate a pair of single runs early - as Sunceray Titus lined an RBI single in the first, with Warren adding an RBI double in the third to make it 2-0. The Coyotes would come right back, as a Rhoades sacrifice fly and a Heather Dixon RBI single tied the score at 2-2.
However, Tech took the lead for good in the fourth, as a Kayde Schaefer RBI double, an Amber Sinicrope RBI ground out, and a Andrea Wheatley RBI single pushed the margin to 5-2. It was enough for Amber Knight and Becca Anderson, who kept the Coyote bats in check to combine on the Owls first win in Caldwell since 2006.
Titus and Katie King each had three hits for OIT, whle Zillner went 2-for-3 in the loss for the Lady Yotes.
The C of I returns to action tomorrow, hosting Southern Oregon at 11 a.m.