Nickayla Skinner had a win and save in Yotes sweep of NNU
NAMPA, Idaho - Nickayla Skinner tossed a five-hit shutout in the opener, then stranded the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 2 to notch a save, as The College of Idaho swept a doubleheader from rival Northwest Nazarene, grabbing 3-0 and 7-6 victories this afternoon at Halle Field.
The wins for the Lady Yotes (21-11) improved the squad to 34-10 all-time against their Canyon County counterparts. The C of I has won the season-series with NNU nine of the 10 seasons the two squads have fielded a team (the rivals split two games during the 2010 season).
Game 1 saw Skinner work around 11 fly-ball outs, striking out six, to notch her third shutout of the season. She worked out of a first-and-third jam in the second, while NNU (11-21) put runners in scoring position in both the fifth and seventh innings – but the freshman stranded the Crusaders.
The Yotes struck first in the third, as Kalie Kurdy lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Brittney Wenzel, who reached via an error. They would push the lead to 2-0 in the sixth on a solo Caylin LePire home run, while Nikki Shumway tacked on an insurance run in the seventh, beating out a two-out infield single, scoring Kristen Haugen from third.
Shumway and LePire each had two hits for the Yotes, while Cara Duckworth had two hits for the Crusaders. NNU starter Nicole Grummons fanned eight batters in the loss.
Game 2 saw the Yotes build a 3-1 lead in the second inning on the strength of a Shumway two-run homer, adding two more runs in the third on the strength of a LePire RBI single and a wild pitch, to make it 5-1. NNU would get a pair back on a long Haley Hevern homer, but a Skinner RBI single and a Crusader error in the fifth gave the visitors a 7-3 edge.
It would get interesting in the bottom of the seventh, as an Emily Renfrow RBI single and a Kristin Refsland two-run single got NNU within 7-6. With runners at first-and-second and one out, Skinnner was summoned in relief – striking out Elizabeth Beaty and inducing a lazy pop-up by Grummons to end the game.
Kurdy, Skinner, and Kendall Pavey each had two hits for the Lady Yotes, with Britney Croner earning the win with four innings of three-hit ball. Arielle Chao went 3-for-4 in the loss for NNU.
The Coyotes return to action this weekend with crucial Cascade Conference doubleheaders at Southern Oregon and Oregon Tech.