TUCSON, AZ - With a pair of wins to close out the Tucson Invitational, the UBC Thunderbirds are finally on their way home after a 10-day, 16-game road trip that took them first to California and then Arizona.
UBC ends the trip with an 8-8 record, with the majority of their losses coming to some of the NAIA's top ranked teams.
"We picked up a few injuries but played them to finish with six wins in eight games here in Tucson. We are all tired and looking forward to coming home after this trip. Overall, we are also really happy with how the team performed under these tough circumstances," said UBC head coach Phil Thom.
On Thursday, it was a 7-2 victory for the 'Birds over the University of St. Mary's. UBC got a complete game from
Kelsey Andison on the mound - it was a perfect performance through four innings for Andison before a pair of miscues from the 'Birds led to St. Mary's first run of the day.
It wouldn't matter as UBC scored once in the third, added three in the fourth, and then put up another treble in the fifth.
Courtney O'Connor was 2-for-4 with a three run home run.
Jessica Barclay was 3-for-4 at the plate with one run scored and one RBI.
In the day's second game, Mayville State took the lead in the second and made 2-0 in the third. UBC responded in the bottom half of the inning with Barclay knocking in a pair of runs to knot the game at 2-2. The 'Birds continued the comeback, adding two more runs in the frame following a
Tanya McLean single, an error from MSU, and then a single by
Lindsay McElroy.
Mayville responded with another run in the fifth to pull within one, however, RBIs from
Molly Gosnell and
Tayla Westgard in the bottom of the inning rounded out the scoring on the day.
Nicole Day pitched a strong game and rookie
Leigh Della Siega came on and got the save.
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