SURPRISE, Ariz. – In the final games of the season opening road trip to Arizona, The College of Idaho blasted four homers that led to 10 runs on the way to a doubleheader sweep of Ottawa University of Arizona on Monday.
The bats came to life early in an 11-1 Game 1 victory for the Yotes (4-2) in six innings, with C of I continuing to hit the Spirit (0-6) pitching hard with a 9-1 win in five innings in the second game.
First baseman
Lacie Miller ignited the scoring in the opener with a three-run homer in the second inning to give the Yotes a quick lead.
OUAZ responded in the bottom of the second with an RBI single by Andraya Rhinehart to score Jaymie Moore, making it 3-1.
Both teams would be held to zeroes over the next two innings before the Yotes erupted for a five-run fifth. With one out in the inning,
Micha Fortune and
Aleah Mendiola smacked back-to-back base hits to put runners on first and second with one out for
Kylie Smith, who hit a double to center to bring in both. A
Trystin Crofts double to right-center then scored Smith before
Kaily Christensen hit a two-run homer to extend the lead out to 8-1.
Three more runs came across for the Yotes in the sixth on two hits and an error, highlighted by a
Haley Loffer RBI single to score Fortune from third. C of I would hold the 11-1 advantage in the bottom of the inning to take the win.
A pair of Yotes tallied two hits in the victory, with Christensen finishing 2-for-4 with two RBI at the plate and Mendiola going 2-for-3 with a pair of runs. Smith and Crofts each had two RBI as well.
Hannah McNerney (2-1) delivered another quality performance in the circle to earn her second win of the season. The right-hander went the complete game, allowing just three hits and a run while striking out four.
Phoebe Popplewell (0-3) took the loss for OUAZ, yielding six hits, seven runs and issuing a pair of walks in 4 2/3 innings.
Freshman right-hander
Annie Polster (1-0) made her C of I debut in the circle in Game 2 and earned the win by pitching five innings and allowing only two hits and a run. Polster struck out five Spirit batters.
C of I built a lead immediately to support Polster, with Loffer leading off the game with a double to right and scoring on a Christensen RBI groundout.
Hattie Hruza then hit a two-run blast to make it 3-0 Yotes.
The lead would grow larger in the fourth, with
Katelyn Wilfert connecting on a three-run homer to make it 6-0.
The lone OUAZ run of the game came in the bottom of the fourth on a Rachel Stockseth base hit up the middle to score Janessa Rivera.
A two-RBI single by Christensen and an infield run-scoring single off the bat of
Lauren Garman added three more runs for the Yotes in the top of the fifth, with Polster slamming the door on the Spirit by working a 1-2-3 bottom half.
For the game, Christensen went 2-for-3 with three RBI. Loffer was 2-for-3 and scored two runs. Hruza was 1-for-3 with two runs and two RBI and Wilfert had three RBI thanks to the fourth inning home run.
Starter Cori Turner (0-1) was the losing pitcher for OUAZ, allowing seven hits and nine runs, eight of which were earned, in 4 1/3 innings.
C of I is next scheduled to return to play on Feb. 19 in Rocklin, Calif. against William Jessup and Saint Katherine.
