DENVER, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs softball team opened their four-game series at Regis University on Friday with a pair of wins, opening the day with an 11-1 run-rule victory before staging a comeback 7-4 win in the second game of the doubleheader.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Game 1: UCCS 11, RU 1 (6 innings) | Game 2: UCCS 7, RU 4
Records: UCCS (28-19, 22-16 RMAC), RU (13-31, 12-26 RMAC)
Location: Regis Softball Field | Denver, Colo.
All-Time Series: The Mountain Lions improve to 54-94 all-time against the Rangers.
HOW IT HAPPENED | GAME ONE
- The Mountain Lions found their way onto the scoreboard quickly in the top of the first inning as Alyssa Gutierrez hit a one-out infield single and immediately stole second before coming around to score on an RBI double by Gianna Pancost. UCCS added another run with two outs in the frame with Tayler McCombs bringing Pancost across home plate with an RBI single to right field.
- Facing an early 2-0 deficit, Regis mounted a threat in the bottom half of the first inning against UCCS starting pitcher Autumn Kunze as a single, a hit batter, and a walk loaded the bases for the Rangers with two outs, but Kunze managed to get a three-pitch strikeout of Kristin Ingram to escape the jam.
- After the Mountain Lions pushed their lead to 3-0 with an RBI double from Jennavieve Goldsworth in the top of the second, the Rangers put together another two-out rally in the home half of the frame as a pair of singles and hit batter loaded the bases once again. For a second straight inning, Kunze was able to wiggle out of the trouble as she got Isabella Porter to ground out to first base for the final out.
- UCCS broke out the big bats to start the top of the third inning as Addy Baxter led off with a triple to right field and quickly came around to score on a two-run home run over the center field fence by McCombs. A double by Mackenzie Scott spelled the end of the afternoon for Rangers' starting pitcher Eliza Legge, but UCCS continued to hammer the ball against relief pitcher Vanessa Candito, who was welcomed into the game with an RBI double off the bat of Halley Redd that extended the Mountain Lions' lead to 6-0. The scoring barrage continued two batters later, as Jacqueline Berkowitz lined an RBI single up the middle that brought home the fourth run of the inning and extended the advantage to seven runs.
- Despite facing heavy traffic in her first two innings of work, Kunze set the Rangers down in order in the bottom of the third inning and received some more run support in the top of the fourth as the Mountain Lions executed a double steal with Baxter coming across to score the eighth run of the game.
- After the first scoreless inning by the Mountain Lions offense in the top of the fifth inning, the Rangers needed to score at least one run in the bottom half of the frame to keep the game going and did just that as Olivia Wick led off with a single and came around to score on a double to right field by Jane Quinn to make it an 8-1 ballgame. UCCS added three more runs in the top of the sixth inning, however, and this time the Rangers were unable to extend the game as Kunze fired a scoreless frame in the bottom half to close out an 11-1 run-rule victory.
STATS FROM THE GAME | GAME ONE
- The Mountain Lions recorded 14 hits in the series-opener while drawing three walks and taking one hit by pitch.
- Gutierrez went 3-for-4 out of the second position in the lineup while scoring a pair of runs, while McCombs, Scott, and Berkowitz each notched two hits.
- UCCS had six extra-base hits in the contest including four doubles, a triple, and McCombs' fourth home run of the season.
- The Mountain Lions stole a total of three bases in the game, including three from Gutierrez, two by Scott, and one by Baxter.
- Kunze (11-5) tossed her eighth complete game of the season and earned her 11th win of the season, matching her career-high in the category. The senior hurler allowed just one earned run across six innings while surrendering six hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
HOW IT HAPPENED | GAME TWO
- Coming off their huge offensive output in the first game of the doubleheader, the Mountain Lions managed to plate an early run in the top of the first inning of game two as a single and an error set the table for a two-out, RBI single by McCombs.
- Following a pair of scoreless innings to open the game by UCCS starting pitcher Kailey Bond, the Rangers found some offensive momentum in the bottom half of the third inning as Adisyn Rademacher led off with a single and quickly circled the bases on an RBI triple by Olivia Wick that evened the game at one run apiece. The Rangers went on to add two more runs in the inning to take a 3-1 lead heading into the fourth frame.
- Facing their first deficit of the day, the Mountain Lions began to battle back in the top of the fourth inning as singles by McCombs and Redd put Laynee Case in position to hit an RBI double that cut the Rangers' lead to 3-2. In the top of the fifth inning, the Mountain Lions managed to even the game at three runs as Goldsworth led off the frame with a single and a stolen base before coming around to score two batters later on an RBI single by Pancost.
- The Rangers reclaimed their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-out rally against Bond as Kiauna Smith hit a double to left field and eventually scored the go-ahead run on an RBI single by pinch-hitter Kristin Ingram.
- After limiting the Mountain Lions to just three runs across the first six innings of the game, Rangers' starting pitcher Hallie Crappell was lifted in favor of Sophia Garcia in the top of the seventh inning with just a one-run lead. Garcia had a rocky start to her outing as she issued a leadoff walk to Brooke Bornitz and hit Goldsworth by a pitch to open the frame, putting the tying and winning runs on base with nobody out. Following a bunt single by Gutierrez that loaded the bases, Pancost lined a single up the middle that brought Bornitz across home plate as the game-tying run. Following a pop-up to shortstop by Katie Steinmetz that kept the game tied momentarily, McCombs lifted a sacrifice fly to left field that gave UCCS a 5-4 lead before Scott tacked on two more runs with a two-RBI single to left field, making it a 7-4 ballgame heading to the bottom of the seventh inning.
- Now holding a three-run lead, Bond worked a scoreless inning in the home half of the seventh to finish off a doubleheader sweep with a 7-4 win.
STATS FROM THE GAME | GAME TWO
- The Mountain Lions notched 11 hits in the second game of Friday's doubleheader with Gutierrez, McCombs, and Pancost each recording two-hit performances.
- Pancost, McCombs, and Scott each registered a pair of RBIs to drive in six of the Mountain Lions' seven runs.
- Bond (9-6) collected her ninth win of the season after tossing seven complete innings and surrendering four earned runs with five strikeouts.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- With four punchouts in the first game of today's doubleheader, Kunze moved into sole possession of fourth all-time in program history with 326 strikeouts in her collegiate career.
- Bond also moved into the top 10 all-time for strikeouts as she now ranks 10th all-time with 198 in her three-year career at UCCS.
- McCombs extended her on-base streak to 27 games with strong performances in today's games. In that span, she has reached base in 43 of her 96 plate appearances for a .458 on-base percentage with a .407 batting average, five doubles, two triples, four home runs, and 26 RBIs.
- McCombs holds the longest on-base streak by a Mountain Lion this season, narrowly trumping Goldsworth's streak of 24 games from Feb. 27 through April 3.
- With two RBIs in today's second game, Pancost extended her stranglehold of the team-lead in multi-RBI games as she now has 15 such games this season, recording two RBIs on eight occasions, three RBIs on five occasions, and four RBIs in two games.
UP NEXT
- The Mountain Lions will conclude their series against the Rangers tomorrow afternoon with another doubleheader set to begin at 1 p.m. from Regis Softball Field.
SOCIAL
Twitter – @GoMountainLions
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 14 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
