CHICKASHA, Okla. - The College of Idaho softball team split today's action, losing to host USAO 2-0 before coming back and defeating Ottawa, 8-0, to earn a spot in the NAIA Opening Round Championship.
The Yotes bats went cold in game one, only earning three hits in the game, coming from Kylie Smith, Hattie Hruza, and Lexi Navarrete. Despite a solid outing from Hannah McNerney, the Yotes would fall in a tightly contested game. For USAO, Darci Chester drove in the only RBI for the Drovers, as the other run came on a wild pitch.
Game two saw the Yotes bats erupt for seven runs in the fifth inning alone, as the Yotes would take the game, 8-0. Lexi Navarrete got the action starting, blasting a solo home run to drive in the first Yote run. Three of the next four Yotes would get on base, and that's when Tanner Higgins smashed a grand slam over the left field wall to give the Yotes a 5-0 lead. Hattie Hruza was the very next batter, and she blasted a ball well over the left center field wall. Navarrete would drive in her second run of the inning on a double to round out the Yotes scoring in the fifth. Higgins would finish the game with five RBI's.
On the mound, it was yet another masterful performance from senior Katelyn Wilfert. Wilfert struck out the side in the first inning, and two of the three batters in the second, earning five strikeouts through the first six batters of the contest. Wilfert would only allow three hits and struck out 10 batters, marking the second consecutive game with double-digit strikeouts, as well as the first time in her career that she has thrown consecutive shutouts.
Up next for the Yotes is the championship round with host Univ. of Science & Arts of Oklahoma, taking place tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT / 11 a.m. MT. If the Yotes win, game two would follow approximately half hour after the conclusion of game one.