VANCOUVER –
Shae Sever had a career day for the ages on the mound earning a pair of wins and a combined 21 strikeouts as the UBC Thunderbirds earned a tripleheader sweep over the visiting Carroll College Saints Friday at Collings Field.
Sever and
Shelby Kempel bookended the afternoon with complete game shutouts while the T-Birds (24-13, 17-9) out-hit the Saints (14-25, 10-16) by a 27-13 margin as UBC has now won six in a row while clinching a berth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference's post-season tournament.
"I think it just speaks to how bought in they are and there's no panic," said UBC head coach Jenn McKellar following the impressive performance. "So whether it's a 2-0 win or giving up four in an inning and coming back to score and take the lead again, the girls are just really connected with each other and they work for each other. The belief that we can do it is always there and I think that showed today in various different settings."
GAME ONE
The series opener was the
Shae Sever show. UBC's ace was just that as she struck out an incredible 16 Saints batters while allowing just four hits and no walks in a 2-0 complete game shutout win.
Sever's performance certainly overshadowed an impressive start by Carroll's Abby Hanley who also went the distance, allowing just the two UBC runs on six hits with nine strikeouts of her own.
The only scoring play of the game came courtesy of a
Keona Nordquist two-run homer in the bottom of the third which also scored
Caitlin Bradley-Tse who earned a leadoff walk.
"When Shae's on the mound we always have a chance to win and she'll always give us her best and today we got to see some of her really good stuff," added McKellar. "It's exciting, if we can start our day that way it's great. She does such a good job on the mound but also hitting in the cleanup spot for us. So, her job is big but she acts like it's just another role on the team and the girls really support her."
GAME TWO
The T-Birds scored their first two runs of the game in the bottom of the opening frame courtesy of a pair of throwing errors.
Mia Valcke led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. Nordquist made it home later in the inning on another errant pitch. A pair of walks loaded the bases for the 'Birds with none out, but Saints starter Kennedy Venner managed to limit the damage retiring her next three batters.
After UBC added another run in the third, Carroll exploded in the top of the fourth to stake out a sizeable lead. Jessica Nimmo's three-run homer was the exclamation mark on the frame that saw the visitors score seven times on six hits.
Following Nimmo's homer, Sever was called back to the mound and didn't allow another earned run the rest of the way.
Despite the defensive woes for UBC in the fourth, they more than made up for it in their half of the inning, answering back with six runs of their own to re-take the lead for good.
Back-to-back doubles from Valcke and Nordquist cut the deficit to two. The tying run came on a bases loaded walk by
Arshleen Bajwa with Bradley-Tse and
Kaitlyn Kim later scoring on a costly fielding error.
The two teams traded runs in the fifth inning, both scored on errors, but the T-Birds held on for the 10-8 victory, Sever's second of the day and 11
th of the season.
"I think our pitchers have carried us a lot throughout other series so I think today was a chance for the offence to say 'hey don't worry, we got you'. And then for Shelby to come back and throw a complete game shutout is literally just who she is as a person, and very resilient is who they are as a group."
GAME THREE
The rare tripleheader finale saw the T-Birds in command from start to finish.
Hanna Hansen drove in the game's first run in the bottom of the opening frame with an RBI single to the outfield. Sever then doubled to score Hansen and scored herself after stealing third and being driven home on an
Olivia Malesku sacrifice fly.
Kim added to the tally with an RBI triple in the fourth.
A double steal in the fifth saw Nordquist make it across the plate for her sixth run of the day making it a 5-0 T-Birds lead.
Hansen and
Gabrielle Dorval were both plated later in the inning to increase UBC's advantage to seven runs.
Meanwhile, Kempel was cruising on the mound for the 'Birds, holding the Saints to just three runs with two walks and striking out three. The junior pitcher picked up her first seven-inning complete game shutout of the season and her sixth win.
Closing out the conference portion of their final home series of the season, the T-Birds will look for a seventh straight victory Saturday while continuing to build upon their impressive momentum towards the post-season.
"I think it just goes to show the buy-in to this idea that we were a playoff team from September first. They wanted it as bad as the new coaching staff wanted it and we're now seeing them start to peak at the right time. I just think controlling our own fate to make playoffs all year, to have it be in our hands versus somebody else's hands and just for them to live that out and play to their potential, you just watch them and they're just excited for themselves and each other and it's great to see."
First pitch for UBC's final home game of 2023 is set for 11:00 a.m. PT Saturday at Collings Field.
