Eagles battle to two losses; two games canceled

With a battle against weather and field conditions that canceled the games on Sunday, Chadron State College softball team was only able to play two games against Adams State University, Saturday, and took a hard fall for both of them.

The first game saw inning rallies from the Eagles, pushing the game to 10 innings but Adams State University emerged as the winner, 13-11.

“I’m happy to see that we’re finally having fun and working hard to win games,” Gabby Russell, senior of Oceanside, California, said. “Regardless of going 10 innings we were there to work, and I could see it in every single one of us.”

Aliyah Rothstein, freshman of Lakewood, Colorado, earned the first run for the Eagles, scoring on a wild pitch in the first inning.

The third inning saw three runs for the Eagles. Paige Propp, sophomore of Lakewood, Colorado; Lauren Zimmerman, freshman of Reno, Nevada; and Amaya Ruiz, freshman of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, all singled to different locations to advance runners and each earned an RBI.

Propp, Sloane Quijas, sophomore of Erie, Colorado, and Ramsey Deming, freshman of Rapid City, South Dakota, were the three base runners that were able to make it home.

The fourth inning saw two more runs while the fifth inning had three runs from the Eagles.

In the fourth, Zimmerman earned another RBI with a single up the middle to advance the base runners and bring Jessica Strandlund, junior of Victoria, British Columbia, home. Jessie Henchenski, sophomore of Fort Collins, Colorado, batted a sacrifice fly in order for Quijas to score.

The fifth saw a double from Samantha Conradie, sophomore of Thornton, Colorado, a double from Quijas and a third single from Zimmerman.

With a double to center field from Zimmerman, J’Lyssa Martinez was brought home to tie the score at the bottom of the seventh inning.

Even with a homer in the 10th inning from Propp, the Eagles were unable to keep up with the Grizzlies and took the loss by two runs.

Russell stepped up to the mound in the second inning to finish out the game. Russell had 11 hits, and eight runs, but was able to earn five strikeouts of 39 batters faced.

“I was ready and had a lot of fight,” Russell said. “I trusted the girls playing behind me and knew that they would make the plays when they needed to.”

After the close fought game, CSC softball team struggled with their bats in the second game, only scoring three runs to the Grizzlies’ eight.

The only runs for the Eagles came in the fourth inning from two home runs. Mackenzi Kroll, sophomore of Brighton, Colorado, knocked one over the center field fence for herself and Ruiz to score, and Chloe Brown, junior of Riverside, California, clocked one to left field, bringing herself home.

Despite the strong show on Saturday, the Eagles were unable to return to the field Sunday to play their other two games against Adams State due to unsafe field conditions following rain.

“I was upset the games got canceled,” Russell said. “I woke up that morning ready to win and I knew the team as a whole was ready to play and have some fun.”

CSC softball team plays Thursday and Friday against Black Hills State University in Chadron, with the first game starting at noon, Thursday.