HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Softball team picked up a pair of convincing wins to open their weekend series with Corban on a very windy afternoon at Nelson Stadium.
The Fighting Saints (9-12, 6-5) built some mid-season momentum on Friday afternoon, earning a pair of comfortable wins over the Warriors (1-22, 1-10).
GAME ONE: Carroll 6, Corban 1
The Saints didn't let a terrific effort from their All-Conference pitcher,
Kennedy Venner (Billings, Mont. / JR), go to waste, cruising to a 6-1 win in the opener.
Venner was electric all afternoon, striking out five of the first six batters in dominant fashion. The Saints took their first lead of the day in the bottom half of the second, as an RBI single from
Ella Seaman (Belgrade, Mont. / FR) would score
Morgan Sunchild (Great Falls, Mont. / SR) to put Carroll on top 1-0.
Liz Ybarra (Fullerton, Calif. / SR) drove in
Kati Slater (Yamhill, Ore. / JR) following a lead-off double in the third, doubling the Saints' lead to 2-0.
Carroll blew the game open in the bottom half of the fifth inning, plating four runs to jump out to a 6-0 advantage. RBI-leader, Sunchild, brought home one run on a single to center. A run was walked in with the bases loaded, and then
Alyssa Lybbert (Las Vegas, Nev. / SR) drove in two more on a fielder's choice to wrap up the big inning.
Venner carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Her second walked batter of the afternoon was advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch on the next at-bat, before an RBI single from Corban's Peyton Foreman would spoil the no-hit bid for Carroll's ace, bringing the game to 6-1.Â
Two more punchouts in the seventh, paired with a fly ball to center would put a bow on Venner's great effort in the circle and give Carroll the 6-1 win.
In total, Venner struck out 15 of her 25 batters faced, a new career-high.
Four different Saints finished their afternoon with two hits (Slater, Ybarra, Sunchild, Lybbert) as Carroll finished the game 11-27 at the plate.
GAME TWO: Carroll 9, Corban 2
Fireworks at the plate in the early innings led to a lopsided 9-2 win for the Saints in the second game of the afternoon.
Three walks in the bottom half of the first inning loaded the bases for one of the Saints' best bats,
Kenna Thomas (Belgrade, Mont. / SR). Thomas delivered, blasting a triple to the right field fence, clearing the bags to give Carroll a quick 3-0 lead.
Ybarra drove in a pair in the bottom of the second inning to give Carroll a 5-0 lead, but got a little greedy on the basepath trying to stretch a double into another triple.
Corban put their first run on the board in the top half of the third, as Destinee Estrada picked up an RBI single to bring the game to 5-1.
Carroll responded in the bottom half of the frame, however, as singles fro
Brynn Notbohm (Miles City, Mont. / FR) and Slater would help the Saints grow their lead to 8-1 heading into the fourth.
Brookleyn Jackson (Keizer, Ore. / SO) grounded one up the middle with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, and
Taylor Sayers (Helena, Mont. / FR) managed to beat the throw to second on the fielder's choice.
Kate Kofstad (Silverton, Ore. / FR) tried to sneak in a second RBI for Jackson on the play, but was gunned down from second to end the inning. Regardless, the Saints added one more run on the play, putting Corban in danger of a run-rule loss heading into the fitth.
Down to their final out in the fifth, the Warriors strung together a pair of hits to extend the game. Hannah Griffith blasted a double off the fence in deep left, before Regan McDaniel brought her home to pull Corban within seven at 9-2.
Abbie Amend (Spokane, Wash. / JR) entered the game in the sixth to get Carroll out of a jam, eventually striking out two of her four batters faced to close out the win for Carroll.
Mckinley Ermshar (Battleground Wash. / FR) earned her second win in as many games, going 5.2 innings, striking out three and allowing just five hits.
Thomas led the Saints with her three RBI triple, while both Slater and Ybarra added two RBI's each.
The wins were the eighth and ninth-consecutive for the Saints in the series dating back to 2023.
The teams will return to the turf tomorrow morning, with first pitch of the morning tilt scheduled for 11 a.m.
Visit www.carrollathletics.com tomorrow evening for a recap of the action, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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