IRVINE, Calif. - A seventh-inning comeback in game one and
Clara Larson's go-ahead home run in the ninth of game two helped Colorado School of Mines sweep Concordia Irvine, 3-2 and 2-0, on Monday.
GAME 1 - Mines 3, Concordia Irvine 2
A two-run rally in the top of the seventh handed Mines a 3-2 win in the day's opener.
Claire Stringfellow won her first career start with a five-hit gem, shutting down the Eagles (7-4-1) after they scored two runs in the first on Amanda Gjertsen's home run.
Mines (3-3) cut the lead in half in the fifth as
Brielle Asato's one-out single and subsequent stolen base helped her score off
Clara Larson's single later in the inning. In the seventh,
Loren Dempsey and
Paige Noehring led off with back-to-back base hits, and advanced on Asato's ground out.
Taylor Klauser, pinch-running for Dempsey, scored on a passed ball, and Larson's sacrifice fly to center scored Noehring for the go-ahead run.
In the seventh, Concordia put the tying run on with one out after Michelle Lieng singled, but Stringfellow induced a fly-out to
Sonoma Toot in right and an easy grounder to
Katie Leiker at second to end the game.
After allowing both runs and three hits in the first, Stringfellow (2-1) was almost untouchable over the final innings as she scattered two hits and faced only three over the minimum in that span. She struck out two and walked one. Gjertsen (0-1) took the loss in relief for CUI, with Jordan Quinn allowing one earned in 5.2 innings as the starter.
GAME 2 - Mines 2, Concordia 0 (9 inn.)
Freshman
Clara Larson's two-run home run in the top of the ninth broke open a scoreless game as
Hallie Smith threw a four-hit shutout effort to win the second game of the doubleheader.
Smith and CUI starter Kailey Palazzolo dueled through a scoreless regulation, and both teams relied on their defense in extras before Larson's lead-off homer in the ninth decided it.
Smith cruised after working out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, retiring 15 in a row until she issued a walk in the sixth. Mines' best chance to score in that period was in the fourth as Larson reached on a catcher's interference, stole second, and went to third with one out, but was unable to reach home. In the seventh, Mines left pinch-runner
Stefanie Brunello on second following
Kara Jones' lead-off walk, and Smith worked a 1-2-3 bottom half to force extras.
In the eighth and with the international tiebreak in effect, Mines couldn't get anything going in its half, and Smith delivered in the bottom half with a strikeout and popup to end the inning after a sacrifice put the winning run on third. In the ninth,
Kara Walling was placed on second and Larson went deep down the leftfield line to put Mines ahead 2-0. The day wasn't done for the Orediggers, however, as the Eagles put the winning run at the plate with runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth, but Smith induced a slow roller to
Katie Leiker at second, who had to make a quick play to
Boston Ludlow for the final out.
Smith (1-2) struck out four in her longest career start. It was the first nine-inning shutout by an Oredigger since Kelly Unkrich beat Chadron State in 2011, 3-0. Jordan Quinn, who threw the final three innings in relief of Palazzolo, took the loss.
NEXT UP
Mines begins RMAC play Saturday, hosting Fort Lewis at noon.
