Five Eagle homers take two games from Lopers
Photo by Kinley Q. Nichols
Lynnette Ebert, (5), senior of Rosthern, Saskatchewan, rounds second base looking to see if the Lopers got an out at first base during Tuesday’s game against Kearney.
Chadron softball took to the field on Tuesday with hopes of solidifying a seat in the conference tournament. All that stood between them and this goal was a strong Kearney Lopers team. With hopes high and bats swinging, the Eagles came out of the dugout and got on the scoreboard early.
In the bottom of the first inning, Stephanie Hillman, senior of Rapid City, S.D., hit an RBI single up the middle to score Melissa Lohr, senior of Eaton, Colo., to put the Eagles on top 1-0.
The Lopers answered back in the top of the second with a leadoff homerun to left field by Cassie Keck, junior of Blair.
Lopers then took the lead in the top of the third when Dani Mowinkel, sophomore of Scribner, hit a sacrifice fly ball to the fence in center field to score Alissa Larsen, senior of Lincoln, from third base.
The Eagles jumped back on top in the bottom of the third, with a pair of homeruns, the first from Cassie Humphrey, senior of Chadron, with a solo shot to right field on a one and one count. Lohr reached first on an infield single. Katie Bolin, junior of Kearney, hit the first pitch to center field for a two run home run.
Bottom of the fourth Jamie Mazankowski, junior of Kearney, added another solo homerun making the score 5-2 Eagles.
Kearney got two runs back in the top of the fifth on a two run homerun by Mowinkel. Humphrey earned the complete game win with only two more runners reaching base.
The first game ended with the final score 5-4 Eagles. Eagles racked up eight hits but committed three errors while Kearney had only four hits with no errors. Five of the twelve total hits left the ballpark.
The second game was quiet until the bottom of the second when Allison Hendricksen, senior of Cozad, hit a solo homerun to right field.
Kearney tied the game at 1 in the top of the fourth when Keck doubled off the left field fence. Later in the inning she was driven in by a single to left field Austin Wilson, sophomore of McCook.
The Eagles threatened big with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth but managed only one run on a sacrifice fly to the shortstop that scored Hendricksen, making the score 2-1 Eagles.
Eagles added two more in the bottom of the fifth. Bolin hit her second homerun of the afternoon; it was a two run homerun to center field.
In the bottom of the sixth the Eagles added one more when Lynette Ebert, senior of Rosthern, Saskatchewan, scored on a sacrifice fly ball from Humphrey’s bat.
At Kearney’s final at bat of the day, Jessie Thomas, junior of Yutan, connected for a homerun over the scoreboard in center field but that would be the end of the Lopers scoring in the game.
Kate Pinder, freshman of Fallon, Nev., got the complete game win holding the Lopers to only two runs on seven hits with three strike outs.
Both wins put the Eagles at a 24-24 overall record and 18-17 in the RMAC. With only four games remaining the Eagles have their sights on a first time qualification in the postseason conference in Chadron State College history.
The Eagles will take on the Metro State Roadrunners Saturday and Sunday to wrap up the regular season.