HELENA, Mont. – Carroll College softball picked a pair of wins over Northwest Christian to earn the Cascade Conference series on the back to of two great pitching performances from
Allison Williams and
Tess Eaton and a strong offensive day from Williams and
Anna ApRoberts. The Saints go for the series sweep tomorrow.
"It was a good day to be a Saint," head coach
Aaron Jackson said. "To be able to win the series on day one relieves some pressure for tomorrow and allows us to play relaxed tomorrow. The goal is still the same but the pressure should be less."
The Saints opened the first game with a huge second inning.
Carroll opened the scoring with a Williams solo bomb to left field. Two batters later,
Tianna Sell doubled to right field to score
Natalie Gaber.
Brittany Smith reached on a fielder's choice to score Sell and give Carroll a 3-0 lead. After two outs, ApRoberts singled to left field to score Smith and
Ashley Davis pushing the lead to 5-0.
The Neither team scored until the seventh inning.
In the top of the frame,
Brooke Yarnall stole second and the ball was overthrown, leaving a wide open plate for
TJ Rucker who scored from third. Williams hit a sac-fly in the next at-bat to score Yarnall from third to put the Saints up 7-0.
The Beacons got on the board with two runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to break up the shutout, but it wouldn't be enough and the Saints would close out the 7-2 win.
Williams moves to 7-4 with four strikeouts and two earned runs.
ApRoberts went 2-4 with an RBI, Williams was 1-3 with two RBIs. Six other Saints picked up hits.
In the second game, Northwest Christian scored a run in the bottom of the second to go up 1-0.
The Beacons held on to the lead until the bottom of the fourth. ApRoberts singled down left field line to score
Jaylin Kenney. Later in the inning, Williams scored on a wild pitch to go up 2-1.
The Saints added another run in the top of the fifth with another ApRoberts single to left field to score
Kendall Mooney.
Carroll added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh. ApRoberts again came up big. She singled to left field to score
Brooke Brewer. Two at-bats later, Williams singled to third to score Kenney to give the Saints a 5-1 lead.
The Beacons left one on base but failed to muster a run and the Saints closed out a 5-1 run.
Eaton struck out seven and allowed just two hits to remain undefeated on the season and move to 7-0 on the year.
"Ali and Tess controlled the whole day on the mound," Jackson said. "Each was able to get ahead and get great results when needed. Our defense played very well behind them and allowed them to relax and challenge hitters."
???????ApRoberts was 3-4 with three RBIs and Williams added one more RBI on 1-3 hitting.
Jaylin Kenney was also 2-3.
"Our offense continues to perform well but I think we still have some room to be even better," Jackson said. "We look forward to tomorrow and will be looking to create some separation from the teams below us."
The Saints play again at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. pacific time. The first game will be a Cascade Conference game and the second a non-conference tilt.
