Western Washington 17, Mines 6 (5 inn.)
Western Washington exploded for 17 runs off 11 hits and three home runs to win Saturday's opener against Colorado School of Mines, 17-6, in five innings.
Clara Larson homered twice to drive in three of Mines' six runs, but Jackie Lucido drove in seven for WWU, including two home runs, as the Vikings went up big in the first inning and stayed up.
WWU exploded for six runs in the first, including an Anna Kasner grand slam, but Mines got two runs back in the bottom half when Larson jacked a two-run shot to left center. WWU put the game out of reach in the second, though, with four more runs, including a two bases-loaded walks.
Sonoma Toot's single drove in
Pua Fujinaga in the third to make it 10-3, and Larson led off the third with a solo shot to center before
Megan Dickson and
Katie Leiker worked a double steal to get Leiker across later in the inning. That gave Mines a glimmer of hope, but Lucido hit three-run home runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to end the game early.
Mines combined three pitchers as
Maddie Rogers (1-1) left the game after an inning, with Kyle Reddig (0.2 IP) and
Sydney Marchando (3.1 IP) working the balance. Shearyna Labasan (2-3) earned the win allowing five earned over four innings with Kira Doan pitching an inning of relief.
Concordia-Irvine 3, Mines 1
In the day's second game, early runs by Concordia-Irvine held up as they took a pitchers' duel over Mines, 3-1.
CUI (6-2), which received votes in this week's NFCA Top 25, generated eight hits and was keyed by Ryann Ferguson's home run to lead off the game and RBI single in the second. The Orediggers (3-5) received an RBI double by
Pua Fujinaga in the fifth.
Hallie Smith (1-2) allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out three, but Grayson Harvey (3-1) whiffed five and allowed only three hits to get the win over five innings, with Jordan Quinn picking up the save in two innings of relief.
Mines stranded
Dani Valerio in the first after she doubled, and Ferguson led off CUI's first at-bat with a solo home run before McKinsey Thorpe drove in Sydni Dix later in the inning to lead 2-0.
CUI added to their lead with Ferguson's RBI single in the second, but Smith clamped down from there to force the Eagles to strand runners in scoring position in the second, fourth, and fifth, including a bases-loaded jam in the fifth. Mines tried to rally in the fifth as
Kara Jones singled and pinchrunner
Brielle Asato scored on Fujinaga's double, and Mines brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh before Quinn induced a double play to end the game.
NOTABLES
- The last Oredigger to hit two home runs in a game was
Katie Leiker, who did it against Western New Mexico on Feb. 21, 2016.
- Toot saw a career-best 20-game reached-base streak end against Concordia. The senior has a .469 OBP this season.
- Fujinaga continued to be Mines' hottest bat, improving her season average to .474 and OBP to .522, both team bests. Larson is now slugging a team-high 1.083 with 14 RBI and seven extra-base hits out of nine total.
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Katie Leiker notched her 98th career hit in the early game against Western Washington.
NEXT UP
The Orediggers will finish the Dixie State Easton Classic Sunday, taking on Dominican at 10 a.m. and #9 Dixie State at 12:30 p.m.
