STERLING, Kan. – In a pair of Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) bouts that were originally set to open the 2023 conference slate, the Southwestern College softball team did battle with the Warriors of Sterling College on the road. The two tilts were played just under a month after the doubleheader's originally scheduled date of March 18, as extreme cold temperatures put the matchups on hold. With the exception of allowing two multi-run innings to the Warriors, the Builders would fight hard in game one, falling by a 7-4 tally. They could not, however, awaken their bats for game two in a 4-0 defeat.
A two-base hit with a runner at second base by the Warriors in the bottom of inning number three started the scoring for the afternoon, as both sides were being retired rather simply by the hurlers until then. After that RBI double, a pair of run-scoring singles aided the Warriors to a 3-0 lead after three full.
Southwestern would respond, as Zoe Berger's single up the middle drove home Hannah Hlavenka for the Moundbuilders' first run of the day. After Gina Hernandez put together a long, gritty at-bat that resulted in a walk, Reagan Wright wore a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the second run of the frame for SC. The score would remain 3-2 entering the bottom of the fourth, but it would not stay that way for long.
A four-run bottom of inning number four for Sterling erased the significant progress that the Builders had made in the top half of the stanza. An RBI groundout, a run-scoring single and a two-run knock into right-center field made it a 7-2 ballgame with just three innings left to play.
The two sides were dormant offensively over the next inning, but Southwestern would get back onto the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the sixth. The first of the tallies crossed the dish on a fielding error by the Sterling defense, and the latter run came via an RBI hit by Rayven Favors to score R. Wright. The runs made it a 7-4 game with an inning-and-a-half remaining.
That is where the threat of a comeback would end, though, as the Warriors set down SC in order in the top of the seventh, sealing a 7-4 defeat for the Moundbuilders in the first affair on Thursday.
Battle number two of the afternoon was dominated by pitching, as the Sterling starter was able to limit the Moundbuilders to only four hits across the seven innings. Additionally, after two productive frames from Sterling in the first and second, they scored no runs over their last four opportunities at bat. A shutout was completed by the Warriors, however, as SC dropped both games with the loss.
Not a single Builder was able to muster two hits in a game in either of the defeats, as standalone hits from the likes of Alexus Johnson, Rayven Favors, Hlavenka, Loren Wright, Berger, Hernandez and Kalli Viegra were recorded in the first tilt of the day. In battle number two, Lytle, Hlavenka, Ryleigh Branstetter and Berger had single base knocks.
After four innings of work from Al. Johnson in the opener, Jordan Gates provided two scoreless frames, which allowed the Moundbuilders to have an opportunity to get back into the game with six outs to work with offensively. The later bout of the afternoon was completed by Branstetter, who had a nice performance, in which she allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits. She also walked just one batter in the six-inning outing, which had been a bugaboo for her over her last few times in the circle. She gave her team a chance to win, but the Builder bats were silent.
Both KCAC battles ended in defeat for the Builders (3-30, 1-15 KCAC) on Thursday, but the squad will have the opportunity to get back on the field on Saturday, Apr. 15 at 1 p.m. in Kansas City, Mo., for a pair of battles at Avila University. Just eight games remain on the season slate, so the squad will be aiming to add a few more wins to their tally to close out 2023.
--buildersports.com--
