Late Game Heroics Help Lady Yotes Split Doubleheader
CALDWELL, Idaho – Late game heroics by the College of Idaho helped the Lady Yotes salvage a split of today's Cascade Conference season opening doubleheader with Southern Oregon at Symms Field.
The Raiders (12-4, 1-1 CCC) rode a two-hit shutout from Gabby Sandoval in a 5-0 opening win, but the Yotes got a game-tying two-run double from
Katelyn Geyer in the seventh of Game 2 and won the nightcap, 3-2, on a walk-off RBI double from
Delaney Atkins.
Sandoval kept the Yotes (3-6, 1-1) off-balance in Game 1 – working around four walks and fanning six. The righty caught a break in the fourth, as after an Atkins single,
Martha Tooley launched a drive to the wall in left, with a 25-mile per hour wind holding the ball up just enough for Tyler Burke to make the grab at the wall.
SOU scored an unearned run in the second inning, adding an Abagail Lund RBI ground out in the sixth to extend the lead to 2-0. The Raiders would break the game open in the seventh, with a long Harlee Donovan 2-run homer providing the big blow.
Donovan had three of Southern's 14 hits in the victory – as eight of the nine SOU starters recorded at least one hit.
The visitors quickly took a 2-0 lead in Game 2, taking advantage of three of C of I's six errors in the game. SOU, however, squandered chances to add to the lead – having runners thrown out at second, third and at home plate to end scoring threats.
Coyote starter
Ashley Pesek was dominant, holding the Raiders to just six singles and an earned run in eight innings of work – without a walk – for her first win.
C of I was robbed of a scoring chance in the first, as Burke reached over the left field wall to take a home run away from Tooley. SOU also squelched a Coyote chance in the fourth, as pitcher Karlee Coughlin snared a
Rickey Kamimae screamer and turned it into an inning ending double play.
Trailing 2-0 in the seventh, the Yotes got even – as Tooley blooped a single to right and moved to second when she beat out a throw on a Kamimae slow roller to second. Two outs later, Geyer rocketed a two-strike pitch off the centerfield wall, scoring the pair force extra innings.
An inning later,
Angelina Romero was plunked by a one-out change-up, setting the stage for Atkins, who lined a one-hopper off the left field wall, scoring Romero for the game-winner.
Tooley was 2-for-3 in the win for C of I, with Kelsey Randall going 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Raiders.
The two teams close out the weekend series with a Saturday doubleheader at 11 a.m. – with the first game counting in the CCC standings.