Lady Yotes and Eastern Split Rainy Doubleheader
CALDWELL, Idaho –
Martha Tooley delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 1 for the College of Idaho, but four Coyote errors led to six Eastern Oregon runs in the night cap, as the two Cascade Conference rivals split today's doubleheader at rainy Symms Field.
The Lady Yotes (9-12, 6-5 CCC) won the opener, 4-3, while EOU jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held on for a 7-5 victory in Game 2.
Eastern (13-8, 8-3) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening frame of Game 1 on a two-out, two-run Chelsea Spanier single through the left side. The Mountaineers had a chance in the second, but stranded the bases loaded, as
Ashley Pesek struck out Lauren Burchak to end the threat.
C of I cut the lead in half in the bottom of the frame, as
Hailey Chambers lined a solo homer to center field and took the lead in the fifth, as
Destiny Turner provided an RBI seeing-eye single and Chambers following with an RBI single to center field to make it 3-2.
The lead was short-lived, as Kasidee Lemberger opened the sixth with an infield single and scored on a Kaitlyn Reynolds RBI single, but EOU left they go-ahead run in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings.
The Yotes won it in their final at bat, as Turner walked and moved to third on consecutive wild pitches by hurdler Hailey Kline. After a strike out and pop up, Tooley muscled a pitch into left centerfield to plate the winning run.
Pesek got the win, allowing just six hits and striking out a season-high six, with Chambers going 3-for-4 and
Courtney Ellis adding two hits for the Yotes. Lemberger had two hits in the loss for EOU.
Following a 52-minute rain delay, mistakes cost C of I early in Game 2 – as the Mounties capitalized for four first inning runs and a pair in the second. Burchak got EOU on the board in the opening frame with an RBI double, Lemberger had an RBI single, Jordan Gerlach plated a run with a fielders' choice and a fourth run scored on a wild pitch. An inning later, Eastern scored two runs on a wild pitch to push the lead to 6-0.
C of I chipped away at the deficit, as
Kristin Paulazzo singled home a run in the second and Turner doubled in a run in the third to cut the gap to 6-2. A Cheyenne Barker fourth inning RBI double extended the EOU lead to 7-2, before the Yotes got a Chambers RBI single in the fifth and a pinch-hit two-run Pesek single in the seventh to make it a two-run game. However,
Rickey Kamimae grounded out, representing the tying run, to end the game.
Haylie Van Laethem worked around seven hits and three walks in the win for EOU, with Barker and Lemberger each recording two hits.
Delaney Atkins had two hits for C of I, with
Ali Longoria tossing three-plus innings of one-hit relief.
The two teams close the series with an 11 a.m. doubleheader tomorrow – with the opening game the rubber-game of the CCC series.