VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (15-9, 8-6) started their busy week off with a bang thanks to a pair of convincing home victories against the Northwest University Eagles Wednesday at Collings Field. In Game 1,
Mia Valcke (3),
Shae Sever (2) and
Keona Nordquist (2) combined for seven hits, and
Shae Sever faced just one hitter over the minimum and struck out eight in an 8-0, five-inning victory.
Shae Sever then drove in four while
Mia Valcke chimed in with three additional hits in an 11-5 non-conference victory for UBC in the finale. The 'Birds were greatly aided by a seven-run outburst in their half of the fifth inning.
"When you can pair multiple strong hits back-to-back, you know you're going to have a good day," remarked UBC head coach
Jennifer McKellar at the conclusion of her team's double-header sweep. "Stringing hits together was key for us early, and we bought into that mindset for both games. That's a sign for us that things are starting to turn around in a positive direction offensively.'
Game 1
Pitching and defense were spectacular for UBC in the opener, as
Shae Sever (7-3) retired the first 14 hitters she faced – eight of which came via the strikeout. Then on the offensive end, it didn't take long for things to heat up.
The first five UBC hitters reached base in their half of the first inning. With runners on first and second base,
Shae Sever smoked a double which drove home
Gabrielle Dorval. Two batters later,
Kaitlyn Kim hit a single which scored
Keona Nordquist, and then Sever made it 3-0 when she scored off an
Arshleen Bajwa groundout.
In the second inning with two outs,
Shae Sever notched her second RBI in as many innings when she singled home
Mia Valcke, increasing the UBC advantage to 4-0.
In the top of the third inning,
Shae Sever pitched an immaculate inning – Three batters faced with three strikeouts on nine pitches!
Then in UBC's half of the third,
Mia Valcke's first of three RBI on the day occurred when she laced a two-out single to centerfield that scored
Olivia Malesku.
Up 5-0 and heading into the top of the fifth inning,
Shae Sever remained on cruise control on the pitcher's mound. She struck out cleanup hitter Paige Creasey and then made Jamelah Lewis ground out to short. But with two outs in the fifth, first baseman Chloe Van Boekhout ended
Shae Sever's perfect game with a single to center. Sever quickly regrouped and struck out Olivia Brown to end the top of the fifth.
With runners on first and second in the bottom half of the fifth,
Mia Valcke added two more RBI to her day with a double that scored both
Caitlin Bradley-Tse and
Olivia Malesku. Two batters later,
Keona Nordquist single home
Mia Valcke from third base, giving the 'Birds an 8-0 lead and a five-inning shutout victory.
As impressive as the offensive onslaught was in Game 1,
Jennifer McKellar was quick to highlight Sever's dominance on the mound. She adds, "Shae's one-hit performance which was tremendous. We had our sights on something special but she was dominant. Our whole team fed off her confidence. We played both games with a poise and a control that I haven't always felt at times this season, but at no point today did I feel like we gave them momentum. We were always controlled."
Natalie Dimitrov (8-7) took the loss for Northwest University, leaving the opener after only recording one out. Sydney Maurer completed the remaining four and a third innings for the Eagles.
Game 2
Shae Sever followed up her dazzling Game 1 performance with a two hit, four RBI encore in Game 2. She got the scoring started for UBC in the (non-conference) rematch when she scored
Gabrielle Dorval and
Mia Valcke on a two-run double in the first inning.
Olivia Malesku soon followed with a one out single that scored Sever to give UBC a 3-0 advantage.
In the second inning,
Keona Nordquist padded UBC's lead to 4-0 when she hit a sacrifice fly to center which scored
Caitlin Bradley-Tse.
NU's best offensive counter punch of the day came in the top of the third inning when they rattled off four runs on three hits that were aided by a pair of UBC errors. Cedella Ritchie led off the inning with a single, and later scored three hitters later after a UBC infielding error. Sydney Maurer then secured two RBI for NU with a single that scored Kayla Stanley and Madisyn Leffle. Two hitters later, Sydney Maurer scored off a second UBC infielding error which evened the score at 4-4.
Though UBC bent, they didn't break. They answered with a seven-run inning in the bottom of the fourth which ultimately sealed the victory, and the sweep.
Shae Sever (single),
Kaitlyn Eng (single) and
Mia Valcke (triple) each recorded two RBI in that span while
Keona Nordquist added an RBI double which started the seven-run rally for the home side. All told, the 'Birds plated seven runs on six hits in an inning where 11 UBC hitters came to the plate. They led 11-4.
"When they [Northwest] rallied and tied the game in Game 2, we responded right away," remarked McKellar. "Giving up four runs to good team that can hit the way they can is not a big deal, as long as you can then respond and score more, which is what we did today. That just goes back to the control and the confidence that they came to the park with today. In series past we might have felt panicked in a situation like that, but hopefully we've turned a page on that."
The fifth and sixth innings were scoreless for both teams which gave way to the seventh, and one final burst from the visitors. Olivia Brown led the seventh off with a walk and Madisyn Leffle followed with a single. Both runners then advanced on a wild pitch, which put them both in scoring position and nobody out. After Kayla Stanley went down swinging, Syney Maurer drove in Brown with an RBI groundout to shortstop to make it 11-5. That's as close as they'd get however as Paige Creasey flew out to center to end the game.
Lindsay Bell (5-3) secured the win for UBC on the mound after tossing 4.2 innings of relief while striking out three.
Shelby Kempel started the game for UBC and went 2.1 innings.
Bella King (6-9) took the loss or NU after surrendering 11 runs (seven earned) through four innings of work. Natalie Dimitrov threw two scoreless innings of relief.
Up next for UBC – A trip South to Oregon for a four-game weekend series with the Warner Pacific Knights.
"It starts with taking the two games that we took today, and now our focus shifts to Warner Pacific and going down there to take four more," concluded McKellar. "We want it to feel like a continuation for us instead of a pause, and that's the mindset we're taking with us on the road tomorrow."
