HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Softball team picked up their first four-game sweep of the 2025 season on Saturday, earning 16-8 and 3-2 wins to take all four games of the weekend series against Corban inside a very windy Nelson Stadium.
The Fighting Saints (11-12, 7-5) didn't do it quickly on Saturday, but found a way to win a pair of games over the Warriors (1-24, 1-11) to grab their first series sweep in a full calendar year.
GAME ONE: Carroll 16, Corban 6 (6 Innings)
Saturday morning's third and final conference game of the series played out much differently for Carroll starter
Kennedy Venner (Billings, Mont. / JR) than Friday's one-hit win.
Carroll grabbed the first run of the game in the bottom of the first, as
Morgan Sunchild (Great Falls, Mont. / SR) drove in
Alyssa Lybbert (Las Vegas, Nev. / SR) following her double to deep left field.
The Warriors were able to even things up in the top half of the second inning, as Josie Landis' sacrifice bunt would bring home Leata Senio, who led off the frame with a triple down the right field line.
Following a 1-2-3 top half of the third, the Saints batted around, and then some, in the bottom of the frame to blow the game wide open.
In total, the Saints would score 10 runs on nine hits and an error in the third inning, racing out to an 11-1 lead.
Lybbert led off the rally with a single. Sunchild brought her home for the second time in the game with a double to the fence in straightaway center.
Kenna Thomas (Belgrade, Mont. / SR) knocked an RBI triple into the right field corner, before
Sammie Labrum (Kalispell, Mont. / JR) drove home Thomas on a double into right center. Following a pitching change, a pinch hitting
Carlee Smith (Blackfoot, Idaho / SO) brought home a pair with a ringing double to right center.
Ellie Koerber (Billings, Mont. / SR) drove in one ona groundout up the middle, and
Kati Slater (Yamhill, Ore. / JR) rounded out the first trip through the order with an RBI single to center. Labrum would eventually return to the plate for the second time in the inning with the bases loaded, scoring two more runs with a double into center. An error at short would lead to one additional run for the Saints before Corban would finally get out of the frame after burning through three different pitchers.
Facing a run-rule defeat in the fifth frame, the Warriors would go on an impressive run of their own.
Down to their final two outs, Corban responded in a big way with a seven-run top half of the fifth.
Venner worked herself into a jam, walking three-straight batters, the final of which plating a run to bring Corban within nine at 11-2. Head Coach Shawna Juarez went to her bullpen following the walks, calling on
Abbie Amend (Spokane, Wash. / JR) to finish the job.Â
Peyton Foreman staved-off the run-rule loss as Amend's first batter faced, driving in a pair on a single into right. Regan Rasmussen added an RBI single behind Foreman before a pinch-running Breanna Crosby would score on a wild pitch. Mckenna Hanson was the benefactor of an error, reaching safely at first as another run crossed home before an Alicia Chavez double into right field would score the Warriors' seventh run of the frame, cutting into the Carroll lead at 10-8 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
A lead-off walk and a single from
Ella Seaman (Belgrade, Mont. / FR) set the stage for
Carlee Smith to drive in her third, and fourth, RBI's of the game in the bottom half of the fifth, extending Carroll's lead back to four at 12-8.
Sunchild did what she does best in the sixth inning, driving in yet another RBI, before the Saints would ultimately plate the winning runs on an error to cap the wild game three win, 16-8.
The Saints had one of their best efforts at the plate as a team this season, finishing the morning game 16-34. Sunchild and Labrum each finished with 3 RBI, while
Carlee Smith led the team with 4 RBI on her 2-2 effort. Sunchild finished 3-5, while Lybbert and Labrum each went 3-4 in the win.
Venner finished her day with five strikeouts in her 4.1 innings of work, allowing four hits and five runs.
GAME TWO: Carroll 3, Corban 2
Janey Adair (Laramie, Wyo. / JR) grabbed her first win of the season in the non-conference final game of the series.
Corban grabbed a lead in the second inning, as Regan Rasmussen brought home one run on a sacrifice fly to center. The lead would grow to 2-0 in the top of the fourth when Peyton Foreman doubled into left field.
The Saints would load the bases up in the bottom half of the fourth, leading to a
Kenna Thomas run scored on an unassisted putout at first on a
Brookelynn Jackson (Keizer, Ore. / SO) chopper up the line, pulling Carroll within one, 2-1.
Thomas tied things up in the sixth inning, racing home on a dropped third strike play to give the Saints momentum heading into the final frame.
Three straight walks in the bottom of the seventh provided Thomas with an opportunity to be the hero, and the senior delivered. Thomas shot a liner up the middle of the infield, walking-off the Warriors on just the third Carroll hit of the afternoon, 3-2.
The Saints will head North of the border next weekend, making their bi-annual trip to Vancouver, B.C. for a four-game series against British Columbia.
Visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of that series, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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