HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll Softball team dropped their CCC swing game with the University of British Columbia on Friday, 7-6, but rallied hard for an extra innings win in the final game of the series, 13-12 at Centennial Park.
The Fighting Saints (13-14-1, 7-7) had a heart-breaking loss in a critical third game of the CCC series with the Thunderbirds (16-13, 9-6), but completed a large comeback in the final game of the series.
GAME ONE
UBC's Shea Sever provided herself some nice run support in the early innings of the morning tilt. Sever blasted a two-run shot to deep right center, giving the T-Birds a 2-0 lead after one, then provided an RBI single in the third to extend the lead. Kennedy Ainge added another two runs later in the frame with a sharp single, and UBC carried a 5-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the third.
Ellie Koerber (Billings, Mont. / JR) provided a spark for the Saints with a solo home run of her own in the third, kick-starting a big inning for Carroll.
Alyssa Lybbert (Las Vegas, Nev. / JR) blasted an RBI double to score one, then scored on a wild pitch following a sacrifice fly from
Kenna Thomas (Belgrade, Mont. / JR).
Kaitlynn Ayers (Twin Falls, Idaho / SR) capped the run with an RBi single, evening the game at 5-5 heading into the fourth.
Kaitlyn Kim hammered a middle-middle pitch in the top of the seventh, giving the Thunderbirds a two-run lead once again, 7-5. Lybbert responded in the bottom half with a sac-fly to narrow the deficit to one run, but Carroll stranded runners at second and third to lose the final conference game of the series 7-6.
GAME TWO
The afternoon game featured more runs scored than most Big-Ten Football games, and took nearly as long to finish.
UBC got on the board first with a two-run single from Kaitlyn Kim, but Carroll got one back in the bottom of the first with a
Morgan Sunchild (Great Falls, Mont. / SO) sac-fly, and the Thunderbirds led 2-1 after one.
The third inning featured 11 runs between the two teams. UBC batted around in the top half of the frame, adding five total runs on four hits, starting with a Keona Nordquist single, hit No. 100 in her career, and capped by a Kaitlyn Eng two-run double. The Saints responded with six runs on four hits in the bottom half of the inning, highlighted by a
Sammie Labrum (Kalispell, Mont. / SO) grand slam. An
Ellie Koerber RBI double evened the game at 7-7 heading into the fourth.
The Saints walked in a run in the fourth, and the Thunderbirds added two more runs in the fifth to regain the lead at 10-7.
An infield error allowed a Carroll run to cross home in the bottom of the fifth, then Sunchild made the sting even worse with a two-run blast to right field, once again knotting the game up at 10-10.
Kennedy Ainge gave the 'Birds a two-run lead in the eighth inning with a shot to the fence, but
Sammie Labrum went yard for the second time in the game, a two-run blast of her own to force another extra frame.
A leadoff double from
Ellie Koerber was cashed in three batters later when
Alyssa Lybbert found the grass on a sharp grounder through the gap at short to give Carroll the come-from-behind 13-12 win in extras.
Up next, the Saints will head to Portland for a four-game series at Warner Pacific next weekend.
Visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of that series, and to stay up to date on everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
