CALDWELL, Idaho – The College of Idaho and Corban University traded lopsided wins on a blustery day at Symms Field, with the Lady Yotes logging a record-setting 18-0 victory in Game 1, with the No. 8 ranked Warriors grabbing Game 2, 9-2.
The victory in the opener for the Lady Yotes (25-21, 11-11 CCC) was just their second all-time against a Top-10 team (a 3-2 victory over No. 9 Martin Methodist at the 2009 NAIA Championships), with the 18 the most ever scored by The C of I in a Cascade Conference game. The 18-0 score was the largest shutout victory in program history and equals the largest victory margin (20-2 win over Northwest Nazarene in 2007), with their 17 RBI a new program record.
The C of I jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first – as Ashley Van Horne lined a two-run single into left and Katie Rowe roped an RBI single. The Yotes played long ball in the second, as McKensie Stanton led off the inning with a line-drive homer to left, with Rachel Strong clubbing a long two-out, two-run shot to center.
The Yotes made it 9-0 in the third with three two-out runs – as Molly Mills lined an RBI single up the middle, and Strong singled home a pair. An inning later, The C of I sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring nine runs – including a two-run Kayla Webb single and a wind-blown grand slam homer by Rowe.
Nickayla Skinner worked out of trouble to earn the shutout victory, allowing just two hits and striking out six. The Yotes pounded out 17 hits – with seven players recording multi-hit games and all nine starters scoring at least one run. Rowe went 3-for-4 with a school record-tying six RBI; Strong went 3-for-3 with four RBI; Stanton went 3-for-3 with an RBI; and Mills, Webb, Van Horne, and Alexis Macias all registering two hits.
The Warriors (30-10, 15-3) rebounded quickly in Game 2, loading the bases with no outs in the first. Bases loaded walks to Rachel Conard and Lounette Jackson got Corban on the board, with Erica Fitzgerald lining a two-run single to make it 4-0.
The Yotes got a run back in the bottom of the first on a Julia Henrie RBI single – but stranded the bases loaded and left two runners on in the second. Corban got a solo home run by Jackson in the third, tallied a run on a double steal in the fourth, and got a three-run homer by Stephanie Nippert in the fifth to lead 9-1.
The C of I averted the mercy rule in the fifth on a Macias RBI single, but Chelsea Schriber worked around two walks, three hit by pitches, and seven hits to earn her 13th win. The Yotes stranded 11 runners in the Game 2 loss.
Chynna Sandhop, Kyrianna Sorensen, and Brittany Chestnut each had two hits for Corban in the win, while Henrie went 3-for-4 in the loss for the Yotes.
The Coyotes return to action on Tuesday, traveling to Eastern Oregon for a doubleheader, before returning home next weekend to host Northwest and Concordia.
