Eagle softball struggles against the Rangers

After a three game winning streak against New Mexico Highlands University at home, CSC’s softball team won one out of a four game series at home against Regis University Sunday and Monday. CSC pitchers Jessica Jarecki, Sophomore of Littleton, Colorado, and Megan Horn, Sophomore of Colorado Springs, Colorado, both had a combination of 16 strikeouts holding Regis University to a 232 batting average.
However, Regis was victorious as they won three of the four games in the RMAC four-game weekend tournament away scoring 3-0, 3-2, and 9-1.
Game one saw neither the Eagles nor the Rangers strike until the sixth inning. The away team released five hits top of the sixth, assisted by an outfield blunder to secure the only three leads of the game.
The Eagles were outplayed by the opposition and were battered, but not completely eliminated in the field. Left field player Aspen Eubanks, senior of Broomfield, Colorado, produced a home stretch delivering extensively in right field in the fourth inning.
Catcher Leilani Niccum, freshman of Citrus Heights, California, was in control of an unassisted down play that obtained a putout against Regis’ main base-runner in the top of the seventh.
The Eagles had recorded two miscalculations in the first game, however neither were precisely responsible for a run. Jarecki received the loss to drop to 3-8/3-9 earning three runs, meanwhile Rangers’ record holder, Logan Losh, senior of Strasburg, Colorado, advanced to 7-4/7-6 with the game summing up to a 3-0 defeat.
CSC failed to be in total control in the dying minutes when they had the opportunity to bat and load bases down in the seventh with two outs.
Catcher Kayla Michel, junior of Brighton, Colorado, was the tiebreaker with a Run Batted In single after two-and-one-half scoreless innings passed. Kendyl Moody, junior of Lakewood, Colorado, had the consolation win with the Rangers leading in the sixth, with two singles assisted with an outfield error to equalize the game at 1-1.
Both teams scored in the seventh inning. Regis’ Lauren Hernandez, senior of Littleton, Colorado, hit a home run in the top of the inning. Eagles’ Ellie Owens, sophomore of Longmont, Colorado, and Moody both hit a double to secure a run in the bottom before the Eagles left runners on second and third base. Moody was the leading batter for Chadron State in the four game series against Regis.
Horn walked two and hit one batter in the eighth pushing the Ranger’s Tori Brown, freshman of Tuscon, Arizona, who had extended base on a blunder, home. The Eagles finished with a runner in scoring position with Michel and Eubanks’ single and sacrifice hit respectively.
Monday afternoon saw the CSC softball team sailing through in the final game as they split day two with Regis, winning the last game of the four-game RMAC tournament. Regis won 9-1 in six innings to begin the day before CSC bounced back to win 7-6.
CSC dropped to 3-7 in the RMAC, now in eighth position and are all set to compete against sixth-place CSU-Pueblo this weekend in Pueblo, Colorado.