DELTA, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds softball team split a doubleheader, the first of five this week, against the visiting College of Idaho Coyotes on Monday at North Delta Community Park.
GAME 1 BOX SCORE /
GAME 2 BOX SCORE
Despite getting 12 hits in the opener, UBC couldn't muster enough offence in a 7-3 loss.
“We hit some good balls in game one but they had some fantastic plays so we got beat defensively,” said UBC head coach Phil Thom. “We had a lot of trouble with (College of Idaho starter Nickayla) Skinner. She did a great job on us. Last time we played, we beat her 15-8, but today, she had her 'A' game.”
UBC rebounded with a 3-1 win on the strength of a complete game from pitcher
Leigh Della Siega (Surrey, BC).
“Leigh pitched a real good game for us,” said Phil Thom. “They have some power hitters and we made the plays today in the second game.”
The visiting Coyotes clinched the victory in the early game thanks to a three-run fifth inning, which was helped by a couple of defensive miscues from UBC.
College of Idaho was leading 3-1 and Kayla Webb led off the inning with a hit. She reached the next on the ensuing play when UBC couldn't record an out at either first or second base on a ground ball.
Rachel Strong then struck a single to centre field, where the ball was misplayed, to bring two runs across home plate. Two batters later, Strong scored on a fielder's choice to give College of Idaho a 6-1 advantage.
Down 3-0 in the fourth inning,
Yasmin Bains (Richmond, BC) hit an RBI-single to right field to score
Lindsay McElroy (Delta, BC).
Carlyn Shimizu (Richmond, BC) drove in a run in the bottom of the sixth and McElroy added another on a groundout in the bottom of the seventh.
UBC had numerous opportunities for runs but couldn't convert, stranding 10 runners on base in the game. The Thunderbirds loaded the bases with two outs in the first but didn't get any runs. UBC also had a runner thrown out at home plate in the fifth.
Cassandra Dypchey (Surrey, BC) was perfect at the plate for UBC, going 4-for-4.
The victory was the 200th for College of Idaho coach Al Mendiola.
Neither team had many opportunities in game two, as the starting pitchers Della Siega of UBC and College of Idaho's Cortni Pena were locked in a duel.
Della Siega gave up just one run over seven innings of work, which included nine strikeouts. Pena surrendered three runs in six innings.
In the bottom of the first, Dypchey nailed a triple into the left field corner to score
Jenna Neufeld (Langley, BC). The run for UBC stood up until the sixth, when College of Idaho tied the game on a Julia Henrie RBI-single. She then got to second on a passed ball before teammate Strong was hit by a Della Siega pitch to put runners on first and second with just one out. Della Siega, though, worked out of a jam, as she struck out the next batter Ashley Van Horne and then induced a pop up from Alexis Macias to end the inning.
The 'Birds responded in the bottom half of the inning by scoring the game-winning runs.
After
Alana Westerhof (Delta, BC) and Neufeld worked themselves into scoring position, McElroy drove them both home with a two-RBI single to centre field.
Shimizu went 2-for-3 for UBC at the plate in game two. The victory improves UBC's record this season to 18-15.
“We have a habit of starting slow,” said Thom. “Today was like our other tournaments. We struggled our first game and then got better. If that is a pattern for us, that is a good sign because we're going to get better each day and I think we're going to need that.”
UBC and College of Idaho will play another doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at North Delta Community Park, with the first pitch coming at 12 p.m.
UBC will then face Concordia (Ore.) twice on Wednesday before battling Corban in twin bills on Thursday and Friday.
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