VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds welcomed in an exciting new era on campus earning back-to-back victories over the University of Providence Argonauts in their Cascade Collegiate Conference doubleheader home opener at the brand-new Collings Field at Nobel Park on Friday afternoon.
Pitchers
Shelby Kempel and
Shae Sever were dominant, allowing just one hit each in combining to lead the T-Birds (3-5, 3-2) to 2-0 and 9-0 wins over the visiting Argos (0-6, 0-5) under sunny but brisk temperatures at UBC.
GAME 1 – UBC 2, Providence 0
UBC laid claim to an early lead in their first time up at bat in the bottom of the first inning beginning with
Mia Valcke setting the table with a stand-up triple to deep left center field.
Nicole Salas followed up for the T-Birds by hitting a single up the middle to score Valcke and take a 1-0 advantage.
The 'Birds added to their lead in the bottom of the second thanks to a
Keona Nordquist single that saw her advance to second base due to a throwing error by the Argos at third base.
Hannah Clegg would then cash in Nordquist from second base after a deep drive to center field good for an RBI double and a 2-0 T-Birds lead after two.
The T-Birds stayed in command from there forward thanks to stout defence highlighted by a spectacular diving catch from
Hanna Hansen in left field in the top of the fifth-inning and Kempel's command on the mound. The second-year Kinesiology student was nearly untouchable in going the distance, pitching all seven innings allowing just one hit, one base on balls while striking out nine Argos batters in improving to 2-3 on the season.
On the other side Providence pitcher Carter Thornton was solid in her six innings on the bump allowing five hits, two earned runs while tallying one strike out. Gracie Fleming had the lone hit for the Argos in the opener.
GAME 2 – UBC 9, Providence 0 (5 innings)
In game two the T-Birds scored early and often thanks to a spread-out offence that saw seven different players picking up hits while at the same time leaning on another excellent pitching performance to frustrate the visitors.
Mia Valcke started the onslaught for the 'Birds with a single in the bottom of the first which was followed up by a Hannah Hansen setting the tone with a triple to right field which scored Valcke from first for the 1-0 lead.
UBC capitalized on a couple of errors by Providence in the bottom of the second that helped advance runners and count two more runs for a 3-0 advantage. The hosts would go on to score six more runs over the next three innings all the while pitcher
Shae Sever was being very stingy in dealing from the mound. The first-year hurler allowed just one hit and two base on balls while striking out 11 Argos batters in five innings pitched before Providence succumbed to the eight-run rule in the bottom of the fifth.
"The bats came alive eventually but I think our players were a bit nervous in the first game and they were trying to over perform with a good crowd on hand," said UBC head coach
Gord Collings in reflecting on his team's overall day. "A little out in front of the ball a lot of mishits but the second game they hit the ball hard and they came through and they were levelling off on the ball. As a young person you want to come in and hit it out of the park all the time but they realized if we get the ball in play, we're going to score some runs and that's what they did."
Collings also had glowing reviews for his two standout pitchers on the day.
"A super job, both one-hitters and I couldn't have asked for more from them," added the veteran coach for who the new field is named after. "The thing I liked about it is when they got into trouble, they both bared down, got down to work and away they went. I also can't say enough about my catchers either who called the game, so for them to manage the pitchers as well as they did, I was very happy with that."
Collings and the rest of the T-Birds hope the home soil and home cooking do them well once again when they meet the Argos again Saturday for a second-straight double-header beginning at 11:00 a.m. PT and followed up by a rematch at 1:00 p.m. PT at Collings Field.
