VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds softball team dropped two games to The College of Idaho Coyotes on Saturday, losing 6-1 and 5-3 in Caldwell.
The Thunderbirds took the early lead in both games only to see the hosts rally with fourth-inning outbursts.
UBC (5-19-1) strung together three-straight singles in Game 1, with a Cassandra Dpychey run-scoring single putting the T-Birds up, 1-0.
It would be all the visitors would get against College of Idaho pitcher Nickayla Skinner, who retired 20 of the next 22 batters, to earn the win.
In the fourth, Skinner started the rally with a line-drive homer to left to tie the game. Kaci Baldwin and Hannah Johnson added RBI singles, with Shumway doubling home a run with a drive off the centrefield fence. Two innings later, Shumway crushed a pitch deep over the left field wall for a two-run shot, her fourth of the season, to cap the scoring.
Game 2 started the same, as
Jesslyn Hodge singled home a run and
Molly Gosnell added a sacrifice fly to give the 'Birds a 2-0 lead. It would stay that way until the fourth, when Kristen Haugen singled and Baldwin reached on an infield single. After a passed ball moved the runners up, Park lined a base-hit into center to pick up the pair, tying the game. Johnson gave the Coyotes the lead with an RBI single and Shumway capped the four-run frame with a sacrifice fly to the warning track.
The T-Birds would get within a run in the sixth, as Hodge scored on a wild pitch, but the Yotes got an insurance run in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Kayla Webb. Skinner came on, working around a single, to pick up her fourth save of the year.
Park limited UBC to five hits in her six innings of work, allowing three runs, to pick up her fourth win of the season, while going 2-for-3 with two RBI at the plate. Baldwin went 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the victory. Samantha Meyer went 3-for-4 in the loss for UBC.
The College of Idaho extended their win streak to a school-record 11 games, completing a four-game weekend sweep.
UBC will finish off its road trip with a double-header against Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, starting at 9 a.m.
The College of Idaho will return to action in a week's time as the team will host No. 23 Corban on Saturday at 11 a.m.
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