Bethel Uses Long Ball to Stop Yotes, 8-4, at NAIA Softball World Series
DECATUR, Ala. - Three long home runs by Bethel College provided the difference, as the No. 8 ranked Pilots knocked off The College of Idaho, 8-4, to open up Day 2 at the 29th Annual NAIA Women's World Series at Wilson Morgan Softball Complex.
With the win, Bethel (52-6) of Mishawaka, Ind., becomes the lone unbeaten team in Pool H and can clinch a spot in Monday's quarterfinal bracket play with a Virginia-Wise win over Martin Methodist.
After the No. 23 ranked Coyotes (33-18) stranded the bases loaded in the top of the first, the Pilots jumped on the board in the bottom of the frame. Sarah Rassi singled in a run, then following a two-out error, Mandy Cripe hit the first of her two home runs on the day, a three-run shot, to make it 4-0.
Bethel got a Katie Boocher RBI single in the second to make it 5-0, before the Yotes battled back. In the fifth, Brooke Judy and Kalie Kurdy each singled, then with two outs, Amy Rhoades walked, and Heather Dixon provided the big blow, blasting a grand slam, her 18th homer of the year, pull C of I within 5-4.
Unfortunately, the momentum was short-lived, as Cripe led off the bottom of the frame with a homer, and Boocher put the game out of reach in the sixth with a two-out, two-run long ball.
Jody Zillner saw her 13-game winning streak snapped, lasting just two and one-third of an inning, allowing five runs, two earned, on seven hits, walking three, and fanning one. Six different Yotes had one hit in the game.
Boocher, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, pitched three shutout innings for Bethel, with Rachel Zirille tossing the final four frames to pick up the win. Cripe had a 2-for-3, four RBI game for the Pilots.
The Lady Yotes wrap up Pool Play tomorrow at 2 p.m. (CDT) against Virginia-Wise. The C of I will need Martin Methodist to defeat both UV-Wise and Bethel to force a three-way tie atop the pool (Still awaiting the tie-break scenarios from the NAIA Office).