|
|
|
Photo Galleries
PITTSBURG —
The Pittsburg State softball team played its home opener Tuesday afternoon and split a doubleheader with the Newman Jets on a day of 30 mph winds at the PSU Softball Complex. Newman won the first game 6-5 and Pitt State won the second 15-0 in five innings.
Pitt State, under first-year head coach Elizabeth Economon, scheduled 17 tournament games in St. Leo, Fla., Denton, Texas and Joplin beginning on Feb. 17 in Florida and last Tuesday night, the PSU Softball Complex sustained damage from the violent storm that roared through Pittsburg.
“We’re very happy to get everything together and it’s a much better feeling playing at home,” Economon said. “Everybody here — groundskeeping, physical plant, administration — worked hard to get it all together, so we’re very thankful.”
The baseball team completed its four-game series with Lincoln at Al Ortolani Field this past weekend.
After losing a tough opening game, Pitt State responded by swinging power-packed bats and former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver would have loved a Pitt State team which committed no errors, pitched a scoreless five innings and hit a trifecta of three-run home runs during its 15-0 rout.
“It’s what we needed to start rolling,” Economon said. “We have a lot of good hitters but we’ve been getting stuck in ruts and we couldn’t break out of it.
“Something sparked. In between games, we had a little conversation that we needed to change the momentum overall. It’s early in our season yet and we need to get something rolling going into conference here in a couple weeks. We talked a lot about getting a good pitch early in the count and swinging like you mean it because a lot of times we take a swing that’s not full-hearted.”
Fleet-of-foot Brenna George led off the second game with a triple but Newman catcher Katie Traffas picked George off at third base.
Newman starter Stephanie Smolsky hit freshman left fielder Devon McCreath with a pitch and sophomore designated hitter Tiffany Brown singled, putting runners on first and second for junior first baseman Kreslee Ketcham. Ketcham promptly hit a three-run homer for a fast start out of the gates.
In the second inning, Pitt State again went on the assault with five runs, highlighted by a three-run home run deposited off the Chatters sign on the left field scoreboard by Brown — scoring herself, George and McCreath.
The Pittsburg State softball team played its home opener Tuesday afternoon and split a doubleheader with the Newman Jets on a day of 30 mph winds at the PSU Softball Complex. Newman won the first game 6-5 and Pitt State won the second 15-0 in five innings.
Pitt State, under first-year head coach Elizabeth Economon, scheduled 17 tournament games in St. Leo, Fla., Denton, Texas and Joplin beginning on Feb. 17 in Florida and last Tuesday night, the PSU Softball Complex sustained damage from the violent storm that roared through Pittsburg.
“We’re very happy to get everything together and it’s a much better feeling playing at home,” Economon said. “Everybody here — groundskeeping, physical plant, administration — worked hard to get it all together, so we’re very thankful.”
The baseball team completed its four-game series with Lincoln at Al Ortolani Field this past weekend.
After losing a tough opening game, Pitt State responded by swinging power-packed bats and former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver would have loved a Pitt State team which committed no errors, pitched a scoreless five innings and hit a trifecta of three-run home runs during its 15-0 rout.
“It’s what we needed to start rolling,” Economon said. “We have a lot of good hitters but we’ve been getting stuck in ruts and we couldn’t break out of it.
“Something sparked. In between games, we had a little conversation that we needed to change the momentum overall. It’s early in our season yet and we need to get something rolling going into conference here in a couple weeks. We talked a lot about getting a good pitch early in the count and swinging like you mean it because a lot of times we take a swing that’s not full-hearted.”
Fleet-of-foot Brenna George led off the second game with a triple but Newman catcher Katie Traffas picked George off at third base.
Newman starter Stephanie Smolsky hit freshman left fielder Devon McCreath with a pitch and sophomore designated hitter Tiffany Brown singled, putting runners on first and second for junior first baseman Kreslee Ketcham. Ketcham promptly hit a three-run homer for a fast start out of the gates.
In the second inning, Pitt State again went on the assault with five runs, highlighted by a three-run home run deposited off the Chatters sign on the left field scoreboard by Brown — scoring herself, George and McCreath.
Riverton High School standout and freshman center fielder Cheslyn Mitchell closed out the scoring with a three-run homer over the center field wall.
Over its four turns at-bat, Pitt State plated three in the first, five in the second, three in the third and four in the fourth — averaging nearly four runs per frame.
Brown especially swung a lively bat with a 4-for-4 performance and four RBI — a single, a three-run homer, a double and a RBI double. Brown also homered in the first game.
Meanwhile, on the pitching rubber, the solid work of sophomore pitcher Jessica Barnes may have been lost amidst the offensive explosion — allowing no runs on five hits over five innings.
“She kept them off-balance and I think for (a couple) innings only threw six pitches per inning,” Economon said. “She didn’t give them a chance to string anything together. She stepped up big-time and we need that . . . that’s the momentum we take into the offensive side of our inning. We’re very happy with her performance.”
Barnes pitched three scoreless innings relieving Brown in Game 1 and totaled eight consecutive scoreless innings Tuesday.
Newman took Game 1 on the strength of a third-inning rocket shot grand slam by left fielder Briana Hallacy.
Pitt State (6-13) ended a six-game losing streak and hosts nonconference doubleheaders against future Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association members Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State (Okla.) on Friday and Saturday.
Game One
Newman 6, Pittsburg State 5
NU 004 200 0 — 6 6 4
PSU 012 002 0 — 5 10 2
Sarah Fipps and Katie Traffas. Tiffany Brown, Jessica Barnes (5) and McKenzie Rynard. WP — Fipps. LP — Brown. E — NU: Liz Carney 2, Sarah Balderas, Sarah Stutts; PSU: Kayla Sears 2. LOB — NU 5, PSU 10. 2B — PSU : Kreslee Ketcham. HR — NU: Briana Hallacy; PSU: Brown, Riley Campbell. HBP — NU: Kaitlyn Padilla, Balderas; PSU: Molly Stiens. SH — NU: Traffas, Balderas. SB — NU: Balderas; PSU: Brenna George 2, Stiens.
Game Two
Pittsburg State 15, Newman 0 (5 innings)
NU 000 00 — 0 5 3
PSU 353 4X — 15 18 0
Stephanie Smolsky, Erin Monday (1), Sarah Fipps (1) and Katie Traffas. Jessica Barnes and McKenzie Rynard. WP — Barnes. LP — Smolsky. E — NU: Monday, Hallacy, Steph Harshberger. 2B — NU: Fipps, Balderas; PSU: Brown 2, Campbell. 3B — PSU: George 2. HR — PSU: Ketcham, Brown, Mitchell. HBP — PSU: McCreath, Ketcham, Mitchell. SB — NU: Carney; PSU; George 2, Frerking. CS — PSU: George.
