SALEM, Ore.
– The UBC Thunderbirds split Sunday's double-header with the Corban Warriors after taking game one 9-5 then falling late in game two 10-11; the offensive explosion saw that 'Birds tally 19 hits between the two games.
Shae Sever's relief performance shut down the Navy and Gold offense and earned Sever her sixth win of the season. Two Warrior long balls were not enough to get the bats going for the home team. Game two was a different story, and the Warriors made the comeback of the year erasing a 7-0 deficit and rebounding to take the game, 11-10.
Samantha Martinez scored the game-winning run on a walk-off squeeze bunt from veteran,
Madison Wyllie.
The visiting T-Birds snagged another early lead in game one, but Corban answered back in the bottom of the second when a solo shot from
Anastasia Iosia tied the game at 1. Later that same inning,
Maddie Ogles delivered a clutch bases clearing double down the leftfield line to advance the home team's lead to 4-1.
The visiting offense came alive in the fourth and continued to tack on eight more runs.
Holly Gonzales,
Sarah Parker, and
Alise Olson combine to be a strong pitching trio for the Warriors, but the Thunderbird bats outlasted them in game one Sunday.
Ogles blasted a homer to left in the bottom of the seventh, but
Shae Sever dialed in and got out of the inning without further damage.
Game two saw Parker's first start in the circle for the Navy and Gold. The Warriors allowed two runs and committed two errors in the first frame. The visitors tacked on a third run the next inning and then continued to dominate offensively, scoring a total of ten in the game.
10 errors were committed and 11 bases were stolen collectively in the two and a half hour contest.
The Warriors plated a run in the bottom of the third when
Taylor Beasley hit a hard ground ball up the middle, scoring
Logann Walker.
Alyssa Wyllie made her debut as a pinch runner and ended up scoring on a single from Calderon. Wilcox-Molina added another RBI to her tally in the third scoring Beasley. The Warriors were not going to go down without a fight and rallied to score four in the fourth.
Samantha Martinez's RBI single brought home
California Johnson to tie things up at eight.
Sever sent one flying over the right field fence in the top of the sixth that also scored
Mia Valcke. The T-Birds regained the lead and went into the bottom the seventh ahead 10-8.
In the bottom of the seventh
Meri McElligott singled to left and the Johnson doubled moving McElligott to third. Walker (3-3, RBI) scored the Warrior leadoff with a sacrifice fly to left field. With Johnson on third and Martinez on second, veteran Beasley walked, but ball four was a wild pitch and Johnson scored and both runners advanced a base to tie the game at 10. Wyllie, a player no opposing team wants at the plate in this situation, laid down a bunt as Martinez broke for home. The Warrior infielder dove in safely and the Navy and Gold took game four, 11-10.
Olson earned her sixth win, while Ogles and Walker were dynamite at the plate.