(Photo Courtesy of Dustin Cox)
PUEBLO, Colo. (March 14, 2015) – The Colorado State University-Pueblo softball team was strong in all facets of the game Saturday to defeat Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference-foe University of Colorado Colorado Springs by the scores of 4-2 and 5-0 in a league double dip at Rawlings Softball Complex.
CSU-Pueblo (11-11, 7-3 RMAC) totaled nine runs on 16 hits and allowed zero earned runs on 11 hits. The Pack committed just one error, while UCCS had two.
The ThunderWolves posted two runs in the first inning of game one, getting a no-out triple off the bat of sophomore designated player Lexie Martindale (Pueblo, Colo.), which scored senior Alexa Snyder (2B, Pueblo, Colo.) and junior Chrystal Reese (C, Pilot Point, Texas). Reese's run was unearned, as she reached first on an error.
Zeros showed on the board until the bottom of the fifth when junior Dora Hernandez (OF, Benton City, Wash.) lifted a ball to the opposite field and over the left field wall, just inside the foul pole. Her second home run of the year was a two-out, two-run shot that moved the score to 4-0.
UCCS got on the board in the sixth with two unearned runs, but that would be all the Pack defense and CSU-Pueblo starter Madison Wolfe (Jr., Oxnard, Calif.) would relinquish. She went the distance and allowed zero earned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and only two walks.
Game two was all CSU-Pueblo, as the Pack totaled five runs on 11 hits, guided by the bat of nine-hole hitter senior Sidney Bailey (OF, Pueblo, Colo.), who went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Martindale and Wolfe (playing first base) each totaled two hits, as Martindale added two more RBIs to total four on the day.
Senior hurler Yvanna Bejarano (Thatcher, Ariz.) improved to 2-3 in the circle in 2015, as she threw seven complete and allowed five hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
The score was 0-0 through three and half, but two runs in the fourth and three mroe in the fifth gave the home team a 5-0 lead, which would be plenty for Bejarano.
The Pack scored two runs on three hits in the fourth, all with two outs. After loading the bases, Martindale delivered a single up the middle to plate Bailey and Snyder and break the stalemate.
Bailey got the scoring started in the fifth with a bases loaded, one-out single to center to score sophomore Moriah Turney (INF, Brighton, Colo.). Snyder drew a walk to plate the second run, then senior Jasmine Vogel (OF/1B, Oceanside, Calif.) plated a run with a sacrifice fly to center.
The two teams will square-off again Sunday with a league doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
