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PITTSBURG —
The Pittsburg State Gorillas swept a nonconference softball doubleheader Thursday from the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside at the PSU Softball Complex, 14-3 and 3-2.
In the first game, Pitt State plated five runs in the second and nine in the fourth to win in five innings and in the second game, Pitt State won in the bottom of the seventh in dramatic fashion.
“It’s good to be able to get a win,” Pitt State head coach Elizabeth Economon said. “Of course, we’d like to put a lot of runs up on the board. I don’t know how many hits we had, I haven’t seen a boxscore yet, but enough to win that and then come back and win a tight game.
“It makes me a little nervous but it’s a good experience to know that we can pull off a close game in the seventh because that’s happened to us a lot the other way. Four wins in a row going into our conference opener, that’s good momentum for us.”
Pitt State (11-16) remains idle for eight days until its MIAA-opening doubleheader against Truman next Friday at home.
In the nightcap, Pitt State used fundamental baseball to place the winning run on second base with no outs and the heart of the lineup coming up.
No. 9 hitter Devon McCreath led off with a perfectly-placed bunt past Wisconsin-Parkside pitcher Kristin Kleinmeyer. Then, fleet-of-foot runner Brenna George made it two straight perfectly-executed bunt singles and Pitt State had the winning run in scoring position with Cheslyn Mitchell, Amanda DeCastro and Tiffany Brown waiting for the kill.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” Economon said. “We got our leadoff on with a bunt. It was her idea. She said, ‘I think I’m looking at that defense’ and I said, ‘I’m in so do it.’ Then, Brenna George, our leadoff, you can’t catch her so she put another one down. It’s not the way we usually get it done but we’ll take a win any way we can.”
Kleinmeyer settled down and retired Mitchell on a fly ball to center field and DeCastro lined out to shortstop Cecie Portillo.
With two down, sophomore designated hitter Brown, a home-run hitting machine in recent games, hit a high pop fly to second baseman Jessica Norton and the ball stayed up long enough it began to twist and turn in the winds of the PSU Softball Complex. The ball hit Norton’s glove in the wrong place at the wrong time for her as the ball dropped to the ground and McCreath scored the winning run on the seventh Ranger error of the day.
The Pittsburg State Gorillas swept a nonconference softball doubleheader Thursday from the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside at the PSU Softball Complex, 14-3 and 3-2.
In the first game, Pitt State plated five runs in the second and nine in the fourth to win in five innings and in the second game, Pitt State won in the bottom of the seventh in dramatic fashion.
“It’s good to be able to get a win,” Pitt State head coach Elizabeth Economon said. “Of course, we’d like to put a lot of runs up on the board. I don’t know how many hits we had, I haven’t seen a boxscore yet, but enough to win that and then come back and win a tight game.
“It makes me a little nervous but it’s a good experience to know that we can pull off a close game in the seventh because that’s happened to us a lot the other way. Four wins in a row going into our conference opener, that’s good momentum for us.”
Pitt State (11-16) remains idle for eight days until its MIAA-opening doubleheader against Truman next Friday at home.
In the nightcap, Pitt State used fundamental baseball to place the winning run on second base with no outs and the heart of the lineup coming up.
No. 9 hitter Devon McCreath led off with a perfectly-placed bunt past Wisconsin-Parkside pitcher Kristin Kleinmeyer. Then, fleet-of-foot runner Brenna George made it two straight perfectly-executed bunt singles and Pitt State had the winning run in scoring position with Cheslyn Mitchell, Amanda DeCastro and Tiffany Brown waiting for the kill.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” Economon said. “We got our leadoff on with a bunt. It was her idea. She said, ‘I think I’m looking at that defense’ and I said, ‘I’m in so do it.’ Then, Brenna George, our leadoff, you can’t catch her so she put another one down. It’s not the way we usually get it done but we’ll take a win any way we can.”
Kleinmeyer settled down and retired Mitchell on a fly ball to center field and DeCastro lined out to shortstop Cecie Portillo.
With two down, sophomore designated hitter Brown, a home-run hitting machine in recent games, hit a high pop fly to second baseman Jessica Norton and the ball stayed up long enough it began to twist and turn in the winds of the PSU Softball Complex. The ball hit Norton’s glove in the wrong place at the wrong time for her as the ball dropped to the ground and McCreath scored the winning run on the seventh Ranger error of the day.
Riverton High School graduate Mitchell drove in two runs, including a solo home run in the fifth, and earned her second win of the season on the rubber, coming in for starter Jessica Barnes in the sixth inning.
Senior shortstop Amanda DeCastro returned to the PSU lineup on Tuesday against Arkansas Tech after missing several games.
In the first game against Wisconsin-Parkside on Thursday, she batted a perfect 4-for-4 with five RBI and two runs scored. Her big hits included a two-run double and a two-run home run.
“You can’t replace,” Economon said. “She’s got guts and she’s got game knowledge. She’s the epitome of leadership so you can’t teach that and we need her. It’s going to bring everybody to a higher level.”
Brown smacked her seventh homer of the season, a three-run bomb that helped support herself on the pitching rubber.
Game One
Pittsburg State 14, Wisconsin-Parkside 3 (5 innings)
UWP 010 20 — 3 7 5
PSU 050 9X — 14 13 0
Kelynn Sporer, Hayley Schneider (4) and Natalie Shank. Tiffany Brown, Hilary Erbert (5) and Kreslee Ketcham. WP — Brown (2-5). LP — Sporer (1-5). E — Cecie Portillo 3, Bridget Walters, Kirsten Luevano. 2B — PSU: Amanda DeCastro, Alex Perez. 3B — PSU: Brenna George. HR — Portillo; DeCastro, Brown. HBP — Sporer. SH — Luevano.
Game Two
Pitt State 3, Wisconsin-Parkside 2
UWP 000 020 0 — 2 7 2
PSU 001 010 1 — 3 9 1
Kristin Kleinmeyer and Brittany Skarda. Jessica Barnes, Cheslyn Mitchell (6) and McKenzie Rynard, Kreslee Ketcham (6). WP — Mitchell (2-1). LP — Kleinmeyer (0-7). E — Jessica Norton 2; Amanda DeCastro. 2B — Mitchell, Ketcham. HR — Mitchell. HBP — Devon McCreath. SB — Brenna George.
