Romeoville, Ill. – The UW-Parkside softball team exploded for a seven run third inning en route to an 8-7 win in game two on Sunday against Rockhurst. The win was the first of the year for Parkside as the offense scored a season high in runs. The Hawks took game one, 6-4, creating a split of the doubleheader played at the Lewis Softball Field.
The Rangers will be back in action this weekend as they head to Missouri for six games during Spring Break. They'll head back east next weekend for a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheaders.
Below are recaps of Sunday's events including the big victory in game two.
Game One (
Box Score)
Rockhurst scored three in the second inning against Haley Schneider to assume the early lead. Alex Jacobson finished the scoring with a home run to make it 3-0.
The Rangers got one back in the bottom half when
Natalie Shank singled and went to second when the ball was misplayed in the outfield. After moving to third on a grounder,
Cecie Portillo brought her home with another ground ball.
The Hawks scored two in the third and one more in the fourth to open a 6-1 lead before the Rangers charged back.
Lauren Vitiello doubled and
Bridget Walters reached via error to put two on to begin the sixth. After two strikeouts,
Ashley Nowdomski delivered a clutch single, bringing in both runs, to make it 6-3. Portillo drove her in one batter later and the lead was trimmed to two.
Unfortunately that was all the Rangers could muster as Rockhurst hurler Kayla Hoyer got out of the sixth and threw a 1-2-3 seventh for the win.
Nowdomski finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs batted in. Portillo also had two RBI.
Kristin Kleinmeyer was strong in relief throwing the final 4 2/3 innings allowing just one earned run while striking out three.
Game Two (
Box Score)
The teams went scoreless for the first two-and-a-half innings before the Rangers busted out the biggest frame of the year. They sent 11 baters to the plate and scored seven runs to open up a big lead.
Diana Gordon, who had two hits in the innings, started the rally with a double to the gap in left center. After a ground out,
Colleen Cummings started a string of four straight hits with a single to left.
With two on
Lexi Sotiros got Parkside on the scoreboard with an RBI-single. A wild pitch moved Cummings and Sotiros up a bag but it became insignificant when
Kirsten Luevano launched a three-run home run, her first of the year, for a 4-0 lead.
But the Rangers were far from done as Vitiello restarted the traffic on the bases with a single.
Natalie Shank walked and Nowdomski singled to load the bases. Portillo then drove in Vitiello with a fielder's choice.
Gordon than capped the big outburst with a two-run single to plate Nowdomski and Portillo.
The Hawks scored twice in the top of the fourth against
Kelynn Sporer but the Rangers recovered one of them in the bottom half.
Sotiros singled and stole second, her fifth steal of the year, to set up the insurance run. A Luevano singled pushed her to third and a wild pitch brought her to the plate, giving Parkside an 8-2 lead.
It remained that way until the seventh when Rockhurst put together a big inning of their own and put a scare into the Rangers.
The Hawks scored five times with one away, including a two-run double by Sadie Applegate, to make it 8-7 and put the tying run at second.
But Coach Fillipp called on Kleinmeyer out of the pen and she came up big. The sophomore induced a pop up in foul territory and a fly ball to center to end the game and record the save.
Sporer got the win going 6 1/3 innings. She retired seven straight batters before the hiccup in the final inning. Kleinmeyer's save was the first of her career.
Luevano finished 2-for-2 with three RBI while Sotiros and Gordon each had two hits. Gordon also drove in two while Sotiros scored twice.
The Rangers will open their Spring Break swing in Missouri with a doubleheader Tuesday at Southwest Baptist. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
