SURREY, B.C. – For the second-straight day, UBC and Eastern Oregon split a doubleheader Saturday at Softball City in Surrey, B.C.
The Thunderbirds (8-5, 5-1 Cascade Collegiate Conference) won the day's Cascade Collegiate Conference contest by a score of 5-1, before the visiting Mountaineers (4-18, 2-7 CCC) claimed a 12-8 triumph in the finale, which was a non-conference game.
"I was very pleased with our Game 1 effort today," said UBC head coach
Gord Collings. "We received a great pitching performance from
Kaia Gyorfi – her best game of the year so far.
Jordan Britten-Yung called a very good game behind the plate and we played great team defence for Kaia. We also got some clutch hitting from Jordan,
Nicole Salas and
Emily Chorpita."
Game 1
UBC rookie
Kaia Gyorfi earned the first collegiate victory of her career by throwing a complete-game three-hitter. The only run she gave up came in the fourth inning as pinch runner Julie Hernandez came home on a passed ball. That gave EOU a 1-0 advantage.
The Thunderbirds replied in the home half of the fourth, scoring twice.
Cassa Courtney lined out to right field but
Claire Eccles and
Mia Valcke were able to tag up and move to second and third base, respectively. The throw back into the infield got away from the EOU defenders, and allowed Valcke to touch home plate.
Jordan Britten-Yung then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Eccles.
The score remained 2-1 in favour of the hosts until the bottom of the sixth when they were able to add three insurance runs.
Nicole Salas hit a two-RBI single that scored Eccles and Valcke, while
Emily Chorpita drove in Courtney with a single.
Gyorfi allowed just one baserunner in the final three innings. She gave up a hit to pinch hitter Sarah Bonner with two out in the seventh, but struck out Jordan Shaw on six pitches to end the contest.
UBC had nine hits in the game coming from eight different players.
Game 2
The last game of the series was a back-and-forth affair that saw EOU overturn an 8-7 deficit with five runs in the final inning.
With the bases loaded and one out, pinch hitter Shaw hit a single to center field that scored Jordan Henley and Shelby Starr. Rayne Spencer then followed up with a single up the middle to plate two more runs and give the Mountaineers an 11-8 edge. Haley Ebner's single brought home Spencer and rounded out the scoring.
The Mountaineers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, scoring four times in the third inning, thanks in part to Bonner's two-RBI single to right center.
UBC quickly got back into the game with four runs of their own in the third.
Gabby Freer scored on an
Avery Hilpert single.
Taylore Jones added another run on a wild pitch before
Damara Begin knocked in two runs, scored by Hilpert and Valcke.
A two-run fourth put EOU up 7-4, but that lead was shortlived as the Thunderbirds tied the game in the home half of the inning. Hilpert singled to first and eventually scored as she benefitted from two Mountaineers errors on the same play, with Jones arriving home ahead of her.
Logan Bailey then tied the game at 7-7 with an RBI single.
Jones scored again in the bottom of the fifth, on an infield single by Courtney, to give the Thunderbirds the 8-7 lead.
"After doing a great job of getting back into the second game we let it slip away," said Collings. "We are a young team and will become better at being more consistent. I am confident as the season progresses we will improve at maintaining our focus from game to game."
Rayne Spencer had three RBIs and three hits to lead EOU. Bonner also had three hits.
Begin had two hits and drove in two runs for UBC. Hilpert and Jones also recorded two hits.
The Mountaineers will host their first conference home games of 2019 next weekend against Northwest (Wash.). The Thunderbirds will head to Caldwell to face the College of Idaho Coyotes next weekend.
