{"id":1025,"date":"2015-04-12T22:49:35","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T06:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2015-04-12T22:49:35","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T06:49:35","slug":"softball-splits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/softball-splits\/","title":{"rendered":"SOFTBALL SPLITS"},"content":{"rendered":"
By HAUNANI TOMAS\r\n Editor-in-Chief<\/pre>\n
Undeterred by losing in their first game, the Wolves pulled out a victory in the second game of their double-header against Saint Martin\u2019s University to split in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Friday, April 4 at Lacey, Washington.<\/p>\n
Although Western (15-22 overall, 7-5 GNAC) lost 5-9 to SMU in game one, the Wolves fought to beat the Saints in their second game to win 6-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a few crucial errors during the first game that got them on a roll. [SMU is] a hard team to stop when they get going,\u201d said pitcher Jourdan Williams.<\/p>\n
Western remained scoreless for the first two innings of game one, until outfielder Amanda Evola scored a single RBI at the top of the third inning. The Saints led at the top of the third 2-1 thanks to a two-run home run hit by infielder Alyssa Slate.<\/p>\n
Catcher and infielder Elaine Sperry tied the game 2-2 at the top of the fourth inning by hitting a double RBI. However, the Saints extended their lead by five at the bottom of the fourth.<\/p>\n
Although infielder and outfielder Lexi Jennings hit a home run that also brought Williams home, the Wolves were still chasing to catch the Saints, lagging by three points 4-7 at the top of the fifth.<\/p>\n
At the top of the seventh inning, Williams scored a single RBI to conclude game one. <\/p>\n
Evola attributed Western\u2019s game one defeat to a hitting deficit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can\u2019t produce at the plate, we won\u2019t win games,\u201d said Evola.<\/p>\n
And produced they did.<\/p>\n
The Wolves maintained a three point lead throughout the first and second innings thanks to a two-RBI single hit by catcher Ku\u2019ulei Siolo in the first and a home run by Jennings in the second.<\/p>\n
Western allowed SMU one point in all of game two. At the bottom of the fifth, pitcher and infielder Sam Munger would be the only scorer for the Saints, attributing a single RBI.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hitting was off during game one,\u201d Evola said. \u201cOnce we were able to string some things together, we pulled out the win in game two.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the top of the seventh inning, the Wolves increased their lead by two to win the game 6-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had great defense and kept the momentum pretty much the whole game,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
Williams, who pitched for the entirety of game two, said that she \u201chadn\u2019t pitched for about three weeks\u201d prior to their match-up against the Saints.<\/p>\n
After their split against the Saints, Western prepares to take on their next GNAC opponent: Western Washington University. In their last game against the Vikings, the Wolves split to win game one and lose in the latter.<\/p>\n
Team leaders Evola and Williams, acknowledged the speed of WWU\u2019s batters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on our defense and being quick [be]cause [WWU] have some fast players. We\u2019ve done a lot of hitting and worked quite a bit on the outside pitch. After last weekend, [we] have improved quite a bit with that pitch,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n
Evola also mentioned the team\u2019s increased focus on batting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter playing WWU for the first time, we know we have to hit to be able to win the game. Most of our practices have been geared toward hitting and overall making us all confident at the plate,\u201d said Evola.<\/p>\n
The Wolves will play the Vikings for the second time in GNAC play on Saturday, April 11 at Bellingham, Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wolves rally to win 6-1 in game two despite 5-9 loss in game one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}