GAELS SPLIT ON FINAL DAY OF WOLF PACK CLASSIC
RENO, Nev. – The Saint Mary’s softball team split on the final day of the Wolf Pack Classic, defeating Southern Utah in the bottom of the seventh (4-3) before falling to tournament host Nevada (1-5). Freshman Whitney Heuser knocked in the game winning run in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Gaels over Southern Utah for the second time this weekend.
“We played really well this weekend and I am very pleased with our pitchers and offense. We missed out on a lot of scoring opportunities in our second game against Nevada, but coming away with three wins is great,” said head coach Jessica Hanaseth.
In game one, Southern Utah went up one in the second inning before the Gaels answered back with two in the third and another in the fifth. Sabatini led off the third and fifth inning in the same exact fashion, earning a walk and stealing second to get herself in scoring position.
In the third with two outs, Sabatini sat on third after a single by Whitney Heuser as Tiffany Gonzales drove a 3-2 pitch to center, scoring Sabatini and Heuser to give the Gaels a 2-1 lead.
In the fifth, Sabatini found herself on third after a wild pitch by Thunderbirds pitcher Kara Bendt. A ground out to Southern Utah’s shortstop by Megan Smith would score Sabatini as the Gaels led 3-1 after five innings of play.
Kimberly Green got the start for the Gaels, throwing six solid innings before Southern Utah made a run in the seventh. SUU’s Whitnie Griffith hit a lead-off double to start the Thunderbirds run. An error by Kayla Gonzales put runners on the corners for pinch hitter Katie Olinger, who singled in Griffith to get within one of the Gaels.
Maryanne Cronin came in to pitch for Green and got two quick outs before loading up the bases with a walk to Brittany Henderson. With Aly Daniels at the plate, Cronin threw a wild pitch, which would knot the game up at 3-3. Daniels would line out to end the inning, giving way for the Gaels to win it in the bottom of the seventh.
The Gaels led off the bottom of the seventh with three singles by Mandy Camuso, K. Gonzales, and Sabatini to quickly load the bases for Heuser. Amelia McIntosh came in to run for Camuso on third. With a 3-2 count, Heuser hit the next pitch to third baseman Darleen Fernandez who threw it home to save the winning run but it was too late as McIntosh slid in for the game-winner.
SMC got on the board first in game two as Jenna Smith hit her second homerun of the weekend, a solo blast to left center. J. Smith had a big weekend at the plate, finishing the two-day tournament 6-for-15 (.400) with two homeruns, a triple, and four RBI’s.
The Gaels outhit the Wolfpack 10-6, but were unable to generate any runs after J. Smith’s second inning homerun. Nevada put two runs on the board in the bottom of the second to take the 2-1 lead on a two-run homerun by Danielle Patrick.
SMC looked to rally back in the fourth when T. Gonzales led off with a single, followed by a single and a walk by Jessica Lemmon and Camuso, respectively. With the bases juiced, K. Gonzales drove a pitch to center but it was caught and Lemmon was doubled off at second to end the threat.
Nevada went on to score another run in the fifth before Patrick knocked out her second two-run homerun of the game to seal a 5-1 Nevada victory.
T. Gonzales finished 2-for-6 on the day and posted a .333 batting average on the weekend, knocking in a team-high six RBI’s in four games.
T. Gonzales hit the walk-off homerun against Nevada on Sunday to lift the Gaels to a 9-7 final in the bottom of the ninth. Sister K. Gonzales also had a big weekend at the plate, posting a .385 average (5-for-13) with a homerun of her own.
Britany Linton threw her second complete game of the weekend, giving up six hits and striking out five in six innings.
The Gaels head to Pacific on Tuesday for their third doubleheader in three days. The doubleheader at Pacific will begin at 1:00 p.m.