CALDWELL, Idaho –
Colette Robert roped a walk-off, two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning, lifting the College of Idaho to a 5-4 victory over Western Oregon in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Symms Field.
The Division II Wolves (9-6) took advantage of nine unearned runs in a 12-1 victory in the late game to salvage a split of the twinbill and win the four game series, three games to one.
Trailing 4-3 in the opener,
Kristin Paulazzo led off the Lady Yotes (2-5) seventh with a triple into the right field corner. An out later,
Delaney Atkins was hit by a pitch and
Martha Tooley was intentionally walked to load the bases. Following a pop out, Robert hit the first pitch she saw off the right-center wall, scoring Paulazzo and Atkins to win the game.
Robert went the distance in the circle, allowing just one earned run on five hits, striking out three and working around four errors, for the victory.
Western took advantage of two Coyote errors in the first to plate a run, but C of I tied the game in the bottom of the frame on a
Rickey Kamimae RBI single. The Wolves added a run on a third Yote error in the third; got a Ku'ulei Siolo RBI ground out in the fourth and made it 4-1 in the sixth on a Zoe Clark RBI single.
The Yotes cut the margin to 4-3 in the sixth on RBI ground outs by Kamimae and
Hailey Chambers – setting the stage for the final inning rally.
Paulazzo was 3-for-3 and Tooley added two hits for C of I, while five WOU players had one hit.
Game 2 was all Western – rapping 10 hits and taking advantage of five C of I errors – in the five inning win.
WOU plated four in the first, getting an Ashley Doyle RBI single and a bases-clearing double from Jenna Kelly, before the Coyotes struck in the third on a Tooley RBI single – extending her hit streak to seven games.
The visitors put the game away in the fourth - thanks in part to two C of I errors that prolonged the inning – setting the stage for an Ashley Lynch grand slam home run. Destiny Kuehl and Lynch capped the scoring in the fifth with back-to-back RBI doubles.
Chandler Bishop allowed a run on six hits in the win – with Lynch going 3-for-3 with five RBI.
C of I opens the Cascade Conference schedule next weekend, hosting Southern Oregon in a four-game series.
