VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds softball team lost its first two games at the 2015 Northwest Cup in Happy Valley, Ore., on Friday.
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In Game 1, UBC and the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers combined for 30 runs with the Thunderbirds coming out on the wrong end of a 17-13 score.
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Kelly Rumley (Surrey, B.C.) went 2-for-3 with four runs batted in to lead the UBC offence.
Quinn Dhaliwal (Delta, B.C.) and
Sarah Hillsdon (Langley, B.C.) also went 2-for-3 batting on Friday. Hillsdon and
Yasmin Bains (Richmond, B.C.) drove in two runs.
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The two teams were tied 8-8 going into the fourth inning but Eastern Oregon outscored UBC 9-2 over the next three to take control of the game.
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Down 5-0 in the home half of the first inning, the Thunderbirds loaded the bases and Bains crossed home plate on a wild pitch to get the team on the scoreboard.
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After a walk, Rumley doubled to right field to score two more with no outs but UBC couldn't push any more runs across and finished the opening inning down 5-3.
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The 'Birds took the lead in the second by adding another three runs thanks to three bases loaded walks from Rumley,
Lauren du Toit (Vienna, Austria) and Hillsdon.
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EOU re-took the lead 8-6 in its half of the third before UBC added a pair to make it 8-8.
Shayla Kaplen (Richmond, B.C.) hit a ground-rule double to left field to bring Bains home. Then Rumley hit a sacrifice fly to left for her fourth RBI of the day.
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The Mountaineers posted the next nine runs before the Thunderbirds responded with two in the sixth and three in the seventh.
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The UBC offence ran out of gas in Game 2 on Friday, dropping a 5-0 decision to the Southern Oregon Raiders. Catcher
Margarita Sison (Richmond, B.C.) got the only hit of the game for the T-Birds, who gave up four runs in the sixth inning after keeping things close for most of the contest.
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Lindsey Ogilvie (Surrey, B.C.) pitched a complete game for UBC but suffered the loss.
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UBC is now 3-11 on the season and will play two games on Saturday and two more on Sunday at the Northwest Cup.
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The Thunderbirds will face No. 17 Oregon Tech at 11 a.m. on Saturday before playing No. 21 College of Idaho at 3 p.m.
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