GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Seven different College of Idaho players had at least three hits on the day, as the Lady Yotes closed out the regular-season by taking 2-of-3 games from Great Falls in a rare tripleheader at the Multi-Sport Complex.
The Yotes (21-21) got to the .500 mark for the first time since the second game of the season with the two wins – taking the opener 5-2 and rallying for a 6-4 victory in Game 3. UGF used a big first three innings to win the middle game of the day, 12-3.
Colette Robert handcuffed the Argos (14-24, 6-21) in Game 1, allowing just five hits and striking out six without a walk, earning her tenth win of the season.
Destiny Turner doubled with two outs in the first and scored on a
Katelyn Geyer single, to give C of I a lead they would not give up.
Angelina Romero singled home a pair in the fifth to extend the lead, with
Courtney Ellis adding an RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-0. UGF cut the lead in half on a Kylie Gonzales two-run homer, but
Martha Tooley got the run back in the seventh with an RBI single and Robert fanned a pair of batters in the seventh to lock down the win.
Ellis was 3-for-4 in the opener, with both Geyer and Robert delivering a pair of hits.
Game 2 was all Argos, taking advantage of four C of I errors to score 10 unearned runs in the opening three innings. Jocelyn Kaufman had a two-run single in a 3-run first inning for UGF, with Hali Gruntowicz doubling home two in the second to make it 7-0.
C of I whittled the lead to 7-3 in the third on an RBI double from
Hailey Chambers and RBI singles from
Martha Tooley and
Delaney Atkins, but Gruntowicz had the big blow of the game in the bottom of the inning, smashing a grand slam to put the game out of reach.
Turner and
Kristin Paulazzo each went 2-for-2 for C of I, while Mikayla Deigan worked around 10 hits to earn the win for UGF.
The Coyotes grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of the late game on Turner's seventh home run of the year, only to see UGF score four times in the third, taking the lead on a Jackie Thomas two-run homer.
The visitors did not quit, batting around for five runs – all with two outs – in the fifth inning. Romero tied the game with a bases-clearing double, with Tooley giving C of I the lead with a two-run single.
Sadee Sorensen did the rest, retiring 10 of the final 11 batters of the game to record her first win in a C of I uniform – allowing just two hits in four-plus innings of shutout relief.
Trystin Crofts was 2-for-2 in the win for the Yotes.
C of I heads to the Willamette Valley next weekend for the Cascade Conference Championships, presented by U.S. Bank. The six-team tournament, hosted by Corban, will open with the Lady Yotes meeting rival Eastern Oregon on Friday morning.
