Softball team beats No. 10 Tarleton State
The Chadron State softball team embarked on another tough weekend, this time to Canyon, Texas, for the West Texas Invitational. The Eagles won three games but lost three more.
In the first two match-ups, the Eagles took down Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas, 4-2; and the previously ranked No. 10 Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas, 6-4.
Against Angelo State, the Eagles racked up eight hits and four runs. Shea Graham, graduate student of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Zoe Humphries, junior of Arvada, Colorado, both hit 2 of 3. The winning run came in the bottom of the sixth inning, thanks to Taylor Bauer, junior of Rapid City, South Dakota, who batted in Kendyl Moody, freshman of Lakewood, Colorado. It was Angelo State’s first loss of the season.
In the game against Tarleton State, Courtney Lecher, senior of Fort Collins, Colorado, batted 4 of 5 with two RBIs. Tayler Hall, graduate student of Windsor, Colorado, pitched her first game of the season, recording four strikeouts and earning her first win of the season.
The competition didn’t get any weaker the next day. The Eagles lost a high-scoring game to Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas, 9-7. Lecher and Kayla Michel, freshman of Brighton, Colorado, both hit 2 of 4 with a RBI. The Eagles managed to record seven hits, but Midwestern was too strong offensively, putting 14 hits in the book.
In the second game of the afternoon, West Texas A&M, Canyon, shut out the Eagles, winning 12-0 in just five innings. Only two CSC players managed to get a hit, Katelyn Kruger, senior of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Michel. The Lady Buffs dominated at the plate, adding 17 hits. Six of the 12 runs came in the first inning.
The Eagles split the final day of the invite, losing to Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma, 8-4, and defeating Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, 11-7.
Against Cameron, the Eagles managed 14 hits but stranded 12 runners on base. Lecher went 3 of 5 from the plate, batting in a run and scoring one of her own. Bekka Prokaski, senior of Broomfield, Colorado, added three hits on four attempts, with one run scored. The Aggies scored six runs in the first inning, thanks to a 3-run home run from All-American Paige Daino, junior of Burkburnett, Texas.
In another high scoring game against Eastern New Mexico, the Eagles once again earned double-digit hits, this time 15. Lecher continued her solid weekend from the plate, this time batting 2 of 3, while adding three RBIs and three runs scored. Kruger added two hits of her own, one of which was the first home run for the Eagles this season. The 2-run shot in the fourth inning would prove to be the winning runs but the Eagles added two more runs in the fifth thanks to a double from Lecher, that scored Bauer and Graham. Cosslett earned her third win of the season, giving up 10 hits. Her current ERA is just 2.28 in 30 and two-thirds innings.
CSC will begin conference play in a pair of doubleheaders at Regis University, Denver. First pitch of the first game is scheduled for noon Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.