CALDWELL, Idaho – On an afternoon that featured 28 walks and five hit by pitches, the College of Idaho and Northwest University split a Cascade Conference softball doubleheader at Symms Field.
The Lady Yotes (11-15, 3-3 CCC) got a pair of hits from Destiny Turner and a complete game effort from Cortni Pena to win Game 1, 3-1, but NU used a six-run fifth inning to claim an 8-3 victory in the nightcap, their first-ever win over C of I.
In Game 1, C of I plated a first inning run without a hit, as two walks and a wild pitch set the table for Katie Rowe, who drove home Jodie Hoagland from third with an infield out. The Eagles (6-8, 2-4) evened the score in the fourth on a bloop RBI single from Bethany Bay, but the Yotes responded in the bottom of the inning, as Rickey Kamimae doubled and an out later, scored on a Chelsea Szymanski RBI ground out.
The Yotes got a key insurance run in the fifth, as Turner gapped an RBI double off the left-centerfield wall.
It was enough for Pena, who won her fourth-straight decision, working around five hits and five walks for her eighth win – adding seven strikeouts. Kelli Peckham fanned eight in a losing effort for NU.
Game 2 saw the Eagles strike in the first, as Darien Godfrey scored from third while Katelyn Reidinger was caught in run-down. C of I battled back to take the lead, as Courtney Ellis walked with the bases loaded in the second to tie the score, with a Julia Rambo two-out RBI single in the third making it 2-1.
Rambo took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but loaded the bases with one out on two walks and a bunt single. Ricki Tacdol followed with a ground ball to second, with an errant throw home allowing two runs to score. NU would capitalize, scoring two runs on bases loaded walks; another on a hit by pitch; and a sixth run on an infield single by Katelin Lewis to make it 7-2.
The Eagles would cap their scoring on a long solo homer in the seventh by Makayla Scoggins.
Kierston Perry got the win, walking seven, but allowing just two hits.
C of I returns to action tomorrow morning, hosting No. 16 Concordia at 11 a.m.
