Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CALDWELL, Idaho – Riding the back of All-American Nickayla Skinner, College of Idaho survived a pair of elimination games to move into the final of the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round tournament.
Tournament Central The Lady Yotes (31-16) will meet conference rival, Oregon Tech, at Noon tomorrow in the title game, as the Owls no-hit Cal State San Marcos, 8-0, in the semifinal round. C of I dispatched Dickinson State, 7-2, in the middle game of the day, then eliminated CSUSM, 10-2, in Game 3.
Game 1 – Oregon Tech 8, Cal State San Marcos 0Jessi Duncan was the story for the Owls (35-12), tossing the first no-hitter by an OIT pitcher since Jackie Imhof held Midland without a hit in the 2011 NAIA National Championships.
The right-hander did not allow a runner to reach second, walking two batters and hitting another in the six-inning win.
OIT took the lead in the fourth without a hit. Both Alyssa Davis and Sadie Birch walked with one out and moved up on a ground ball out. McKenzie Shrum hit a grounder to shortstop, but Melyssa Bellamy threw to third, with Davis scoring before Birch was tagged out to end the inning.
The Owls blew the game open in the fifth inning, batting around for six runs, including two runs singles by Davis and Shawna Collins. OIT ended the game a frame later, as Cassidy Olson doubled and scored on a Davis rope to the left-center gap.
Davis was a perfect 3-for-3 in the win for OIT, part of a 12-hit attack against a Cougars team that had been mercy-ruled just once this season.
Game 2 – College of Idaho 7, Dickinson State 2Skinner was nearly unhittable as well, retiring the first 19 batters in a row in picking up the win. The righty was trying to become the first C of I hurler to throw a perfect game since Katie Zillner in 2008, but gave up a ringing single to Monique Yslas with one out in the seventh.
The Yotes broke a scoreless tie in the fourth, stringing together four-straight two-out hits. Skinner started the rally with a double, scoring on a McKensie Stanton RBI single. Julia Henrie followed with a triple in the right field corner, with Paige Gabiola making it 3-0 with a RBI single.
C of I took advantage of Blue Hawk (39-15) errors in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to score single runs.
DSU broke up the shutout with a bang, as Alex Vargas launced a two-run homer, her seventh of the year.
Gabiola was 3-for-3 win the win, with Henrie adding two hits.
Game 3 – College of Idaho 10, Cal State San Marcos 2 The Lady Yotes scored 10 unanswered runs after CSUSM (39-9-1) took an early 2-0 lead, as C of I used a pair of long home runs to record a victory against the highest-ranked team in program history.
The Cougars opened the scoring in the second, as Mallory Campbell doubled home a run - then scored on a two-out C of I error. The Yotes answered in the bottom of the inning, loading the bags for Gabiola, who doubled home two to tie the score.
In the third, C of I took the lead for good with one swing, as Destiny Turner blasting a two-run homer to right. Two innings later, the Yotes used a six-run frame to end the contest via the mercy rule. Ashley Van Horne led off with her school record eighth triple of the single, scoring on an Alexis Macias single. The Coyotes would load the bases for Stanton, who cleared the bags with a grand slam homer to left, with C of I winning the game as Henrie scored on a wild pitch.
Skinner fanned eight in the win, with Turner, Stanton, and Gabiola each logging two hits. Six different Cougars had one hit in the loss.
