WNC Wildcats split in solid softball opening weekend
Submitted by editor on Mon, 02/03/2014 - 6:33pm
More contributors at the plate and the complete-game pitching of Carlee Beck produced a solid opening weekend for Western Nevada College softball team.
The Wildcats of Carson City split their first five games in Southern Nevada, beating Gulf Coast of Panama City, Fla., and Pima College of Tucson, Ariz., before settling for a 2-3 opening weekend.
In each victory, Beck pitched the distance, a focal point of hers before the season began. Through four games, the Wildcats were hitting .330 and had scored more than six runs per game. In the season opener on Friday, Beck scattered nine hits and struck out six Gulf Coast Commodores to earn the complete-game win, 5-1.
Cara McCarthy had one of the Wildcats’ four hits, a double, and scored twice. Katlelyn Bomar, Katilyn Covione and Jenny Rechel each contributed a hit for the Wildcats.
WNC grabbed a 4-1 lead in the first inning. McCarthy’s fielder’s choice sent home Bomar to tie the score at 1, and Rechel put the Wildcats ahead for good with a base hit that plated Makenzie Hospodka. McCarthy scored the third run of the inning on a passed ball, and Covione’s single plated Rechel to cap the rally.
McCarthy also scored on a passed ball in the third inning after leading off with a double. WNC began Saturday’s rematch with Gulf Coast in identical fashion, scoring four runs in the first frame, but lost a slugfest, 17-8. Gulf Coast scored five times in the second inning and nine in the fifth to pull away. Covione and Heather Septon homered for WNC.
Covione was 2 for 4 with three RBI, while Hospodka, Septon and McCarthy also delivered two hits. Beck started in the circle for the Wildcats, but reliever Lindsey Ashbaugh took the defeat.
WNC finished the day by dropping a 13-4 decision to Arizona Western. McCarthy and Gonzalez ignited the Wildcats’ offense with two hits apiece.
Ashbaugh worked 3 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and four earned runs. Covione took the loss in relief. The Wildcats, however, bounced back to defeat Pima College, 8-5, on Sunday behind Hospodka, Beck and a 12-hit attack.
Hospodka provided two extra-base hits, two runs scored and two RBI as WNC evened its record at 2-2. She doubled in the second inning, and her two-run homer following a McCarthy double gave the Wildcats some breathing room in the final inning.
Beck got her second win of the weekend for WNC despite giving up five runs. She struck out two, walked one and surrendered nine hits. The Wildcats scored first on Rechel’s RBI base hit in the second inning and added another run in the third. The Wildcats pushed two runs across the plate in the fourth when Hali Bennion hit her first homer in a WNC uniform, a two-run shot to make the score 4-0. In the fifth, RBI doubles by Septon and Rechel moved WNC ahead 6-1.
Jackie Hernandez’s three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh pulled Pima within 8-5, but Beck preserved the victory with a fly-out to end the game.
Besides Hospodka, the Wildcats also received two hits off the bats of Gonzalez, McCarthy and Rechel. On Monday, Gulf Coast snapped a 4-4 tie with a three-run fifth inning en route to a 9-4 victory over WNC, dropping them to 2-3 overall. The Wildcats scored twice in the first inning. Madi Gonzalez triggered the rally with a double to left field.
Katilyn Covione followed with a double to center field, scoring Gonzalez. Covione swiped third base and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cara McCarthy. But the Wildcats didn’t get out of the opening frame with the lead. Gulf Coast responded with three runs on a single hit in the bottom of the inning.
Ashbaugh walked the first two hitters and Megan Griffith delivered a game-tying two-run single. Griffith came home with an unearned run, handing the Commodores the lead, 3-2.
Beck relieved Ashbaugh and retired the next three hitters, keeping the score close. The Commodores extended their lead to 4-2 in the fourth inning, but the Wildcats pulled even on McCarthy’s two-run base hit in the fifth. The Wildcats missed a chance to take the lead, leaving the bases loaded.
Kelbi Davis’ two-run single in the bottom of the fifth put the Commodores on top for good, 6-4.
Covione and Bomar delivered base hits for the Wildcats in the sixth inning, but they were stranded on the bases. Griffith’s solo homer started a three-run Gulf Coast rally in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
The Wildcats’ 10-hit effort was led by two-hit performances by Gonzalez, Covione and Heather Septon. McCarthy drove home three runs, while Gonzalez scored twice.
Beck took her first defeat in a six-inning relief effort.
The Wildcats will open Scenic West Athletic Conference play on Wednesday when they meet College of Southern Idaho in St. George, Utah. A doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday and for noon Thursday.
