Lakers Close With a Pair of Victories
Laker softball finished their spring break trip to Florida with two wins, making them 6-6 on this trip and 9-9 overall. They took down Cuyahoga Community College in game one 11-3 in six innings. They compiled fourteen hits, including an inside the park homerun from sophomore, Kaitlin Walsh. The Lakers then beat Niagara County Community College 13-1 in five innings. They had twelve hits in game two, including a homerun off the bat of freshman, Kacie Salazar.
Game One: ILCC 11, CCC 3 (6 innings)
Pitcher, Yasmine Nix, started off the game on fire. She got the first three Cuyahoga batters out on just six pitches. Julia Sullwold got things started in their half of the inning with a leadoff walk. Desiree Lopez followed quickly on a four pitch walk. With one out, Salazar walked as well to bring up Kaitlin Walsh. Walsh drove a ball over the right fielder's head, clearing the bases, and scoring herself to put the Lakers up 4-0.
Nix again got the Cuyahoga batters to go down in order in the second inning. With one out, Sullwold hit a single up the middle, advanced to second on a passed ball, and was moved to third base on a single from Lopez. Leilani San Pedro pushed Sullwold across the plate on a ground ball to the shortstop, to give the Lakers one run in the second.
Cuyahoga saw their first hit of the game with two outs in the third inning, but Nix quickly retired the next batter on a ground ball back to her. Walsh hit a comebacker to the pitcher, that she caught to bring Montanna Popp up to bat with one out. She singled to right, stole second, and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Laurie Custard hit a sacrifice fly to score Popp and put the Lakers up 6-0.Bibiana Rosales and Emily Owen both drew walks, before advancing on a passed ball. Sullwold and Lopez both singled to left to score Rosales and Owen, to extend the Laker lead to 8-0.
Cuyahoga showed some life in the fourth, scoring three runs on four hits. Unfazed, the Lakers continued their scoring in their half of the inning. Walsh hit a one out double to centerfield, before scoring on a Montanna Popp single.
The score remained this way, until the Lakers scored two in the bottom of the sixth to finish the game. Popp singled to right and advanced to third on a Custard double. Pallisco walked before Owen singled to right field to score Popp. Sullwold quickly brought in the final run of the game with a groundout to first base.
Yasmine Nix (1-1) got the win for the Lakers. She pitched all six innings, allowing three runs, two earned on six hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. Julia Sullwold led the Lakers going 3-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Laurie Custard was 3-3 with a sacrifice fly as well as Montanna Popp being 3-4. Kaitlin Walsh had four runs batted in during the game.
Photography by Cecil Ramsey
Game Two: ILCC 13, NCCC 1 (5 innings)
Iowa Lakes continued their strong offense in game two, scoring four runs in the top of the first. Sullwold walked and then quickly stole second and third base. San Pedro hit a pop fly into right center that was misplayed by Niagara to score Sullwold. San Pedro stole third on the next pitch before Salazar walked and stole second base. San Pedro then scored on a wild pitch, advancing Salazar to third. Walsh followed with a double to center to put the Lakers up 3-0.Popp grounded out to the pitcher, advancing Walsh to third, who eventually came around on a single by Custard.
Sullwold got things going again in the top of the second with a leadoff double. Lopez then bunted her way on to put runners at the corners. Lopez stole second before San Pedro drove in Sullwold. San Pedro then stole second base, before Walsh scored both Lopez and San Pedro on a double to left center.
With the Lakers up 7-0, San Pedro led off the fourth with a single. Salazar then hit a homerun over the centerfield fence to score two more runs for the Lakers. Niagara pushed one run across the plate in the bottom half of the inning on a Laker error, two walks, and a hit by pitch. Salazar had a heads up double play in the inning that saved the Lakers some runs.
Gabby Heckard led off the fifth with a bunt single and then aggressively advanced two bases on a passed ball. Lopez followed with a walk and stolen base. San Pedro reached on a Niagara error, which scored Heckard. Salazar then doubled to left to score both Lopez and San Pedro. Salazar stole third before scoring on a Walsh double to complete the 13-1 victory for the Lakers.
Bibiana Rosales got the win for the Lakers. She gave up one run in two innings with one hit, two walks, a hit batter, and one strikeout. Naomi Tolmachoff also threw two innings for the Lakers. She allowed no runs on one hit. Kaitlin Walsh led the Lakers at the plate going 4-4 with four doubles and four runs batted in. Kacie Salazar, Leilani San Pedro, and Gabby Heckard each had two hits for the Lakers as well. Iowa Lakes swiped nine bases in the game.
The Lakers will travel home Saturday, March 17th. They will take on Morningside JV in Sioux City, Iowa on Wednesday, March 21st, at 3:00 and 5:00 PM.