UWA softball splits in last day of Charger Chillout
Published 10:07 am Monday, February 10, 2014
Rebecca Schick batted in five Tigers on two hits, including a home run to lead West Alabama to 9-6 win over Maryville in the final day of the 2014 Charger Chillout. The Tigers fell to No. 7 Indianapolis 7-2 in the second game.
West Alabama moved to 5-5 overall. Maryville fell to Delta State 5-2 in extra innings in its first game of the day to drop to 2-4. Indianapolis dropped its first game to St. Edward’s 8-4 to move to 3-3.
“In the first game, we didn’t play our best ball, but we managed to put some hits together,” said UWA head coach Will Atkinson. “In the second game, we fell behind early. We have to play a little stronger on defense and limit the number of base runners that they have.”
Schick batted in two runs with a double to left center in the top of the third inning to cut the Saints lead down to one. The Tigers scored five runs in the top of the fifth to take their first lead of the day. Two doubles by Anna Shartzer and Whitney Brown along with a walk by Lydia North put UWA on the board for the first time. Schick then homered to add three more runs in the same inning.
Leading 7-6 in the top of the seventh, Miriah Chavez hit an RBI triple and Devan Hines, an RBI single, to secure the Tiger victory.
Schick, Brown and North each ended with two runs. Chavez led with three hits in four at bats.
Maryville took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning with a RBI single by Shelby Steinkamp. Jennifer Maynez hit an RBI single in the bottom of the third and a two RBI single in the third to cut the Tigers lead down to 7-6.
Steinkamp finished 2-for-5 with two RBI, while Maynez went 2-for-3 with one run. The Saints left 10 runners stranded.
Sarah Ray-Averett (4-0) pitched her third complete game of the season for the Tigers to get the win. Alex Carr (0-1) opened the first four innings for the Saints, allowing six earned runs and six hits to take the loss.
“Sarah started off pretty decent in the circle,” Atkinson said. “She was hit hard at time. It was just a situation where we would fall into a rut where we would have to score seven of eight runs in a row to win the ball game.”
In game two, Taylor Russell put Indianapolis on the board first with a homerun as the Greyhounds first batter. UI added three more runs in the bottom of the third, followed with Alexa Alfaro RBI single in the fourth. Russell struck again in the sixth with a two RBI homer to cement the Greyhounds victory.
Russell ended 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI.
Jordyn Whiddon scored on an error in the fourth and Chavez hit an RBI double in the sixth to account for the only Tiger runs.
Morgan Foley (1-2) picked up the win, pitching through seven innings and striking out eight batters. Jessica Brock (0-3) allowed four runs and four hits to get the loss.
“I didn’t press because I felt that Brock started out pretty well,” Atkinson said. “They squeezed the strike zone on her a little bit, but we have to limit the mistakes. We need to limit the walks and figure out how to get those hits.
“We are getting base runners on, but we have still need to get those timely hits. We are still learning. We are 10 games in. We are playing .500 ball, and we are looking to improve as we have our first home game this week.”
The Tigers will open their home season in a double-header against Stillman on Wednesday. Game one is set for 2 p.m. at the UWA Softball Complex.