VANCOUVER – The fans at Collings Field in Nobel Park were treated to a pair of great games on a sunny Saturday afternoon, as the Thunderbirds bounced from a tight 3-2 loss to take an equally-tight 2-1 win to close the series.
That victory – coming courtesy of a walk-off single from
Mattea Burrill – was the program's 100th under fourth-year head coach
Jennifer McKellar, making her the second Thunderbirds softball coach to reach that milestone.
"I just feel very grateful to all the players and coaching staff who have contributed and believed in our program," said a Gatorade-soaked McKellar after the games. "I'm grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate that with these athletes today, and thank you to all the ones that have been part of my four years here."
On the diamond, perhaps the biggest story of the day for the T-Birds was their pitching. After
Carleen Murray threw another complete game in the first outing while giving up just three hits and three runs (all of them unearned),
Brynn Fortier allowed just a single run as she also threw a complete game – the first of her career – in the second half of the day.
Kili Makanani was the star for the Knights in the first game, recording all three of her team's RBIs while also throwing a complete game victory. Ashley Fritz and Skylar Groesbeck each had multiple hits on the day for the visitors.
GAME ONE
The T-Birds got the scoring going in the opening inning, when a
Jessica Heutink single was mishandled in left field, allowing
Marin Jorgenson to race all the way from first around to home.
Outside of a walk in the top of the first, Murray didn't allow any other baserunners through the opening three innings. That changed, however, in the fourth, when a pair of walks and a UBC fielding error loaded the bases with two outs.
Needing a big play, Makanani stepped to the plate and delivered a monster hit – smacking a bases-clearing double off the fence in left-centre to give her team their first lead of the weekend.
Needing a spark of their own, the T-Birds got one in the form of
Jillian Matsubara firing an RBI triple down the left field line. While she was unable to come home herself, the home team entered the final pair of innings down by just a single run.
With the score the same in the bottom of the seventh,
Clare VanSpall led off with a single, followed by a bunt laid by
Brielle Donoghue that died just inside fair territory for another single. Unfortunately, the T-Birds were unable to get any more offensive momentum and fell short with a 3-2 loss.
GAME TWO
Neither team was able to make a breakthrough early on in game two, with the two sides combining for nine runners left on base in the first four innings. That included runners on second and third for the Knights in the opening frame, and a bases loaded opportunity for UBC in the bottom of the second.
The opening runs finally came in the fifth, courtesy of the visitors. After Rachel Behn led off the top half of the inning with a double, a UBC fielding error a couple of batters later allowed pinch-runner Kenidee Holden to scamper home from third to break the deadlock.
The T-Birds continued to put on some pressure late in the game, getting multiple runners on at once for the third time in the game in the bottom of the sixth, but Knights' pitcher Macey Tovar again was able to get out of the potential jam by inducing a groundout to put her team one inning away from victory.
Once more, the Thunderbirds got off to a hot start in the seventh, with a Donoghue single and VanSpall walk getting two on with one out. Heutink then finally got her team on the board with a double that scored Donoghue, setting up a walk-off scenario.
A hit-by-pitch walk and a strikeout later, and it was Burrill who stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. The second-year player had the clutch factor that was needed, lacing a single over the head of the second baseman to cue the celebrations amongst the home players and fans.
"I think it shows their buy-in to our team values of being relentless and not letting one moment or one mistake define us," said McKellar on her team bouncing back from a missed walk-off opportunity in the first game to capitalize on one in the second. "Softball's a hard game, and we had a good team we were playing, but for them to be able to do that, that's the type of momentum that we want to have going into the postseason."
There will be some more celebrations to come for the T-Birds, as next weekend they will honour this year's graduating class as they close out the regular season at home against Bushnell. The first doubleheader is on Friday, April 24, before Senior Day on Saturday, April 25.
