CALDWELL, Idaho – Quality pitching and defense led The College of Idaho to a pair of wins over Carroll and Eastern Oregon on Saturday at Symms Field.
The No. 17 ranked Yotes (6-6) extended a streak of four straight home opening victories with a 9-0 win in five innings over the Fighting Saints (0-2) in the opener, while C of I pulled away late to knock off the Mountaineers (2-6) in the second game of the day.
Against Carroll, C of I starter
Katelyn Wilfert (2-3) was virtually unhittable, twirling a complete game one-hitter while striking out seven.
Trystin Crofts ignited the early offense with an RBI double to score
Haley Loffer in the first inning.
Wilfert helped her own cause with a two-run single to left in the third and
Aleah Mendiola mashed a two-run blast to left-center in the fourth to make it 5-0 C of I.
Four more runs would come across in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by a Crofts bases-clearing double to put the finishing touches on the win.
Crofts went 2-for-4 at the plate with four RBI and a run.
Kylie Smith and
Micha Fortune each added two hit performances of their own.
Later in the day against EOU, the Yotes once again capitalized on a strong effort in the circle, this time from freshman right-hander
Annie Polster (2-0) who went the full seven innings. The Mountaineers mustered just two hits and one earned run against Polster while falling victim to six strikeouts.
Eastern starter Ashton Kazmierski (0-2) was effective as well, keeping the game even heading into the bottom of the sixth at 2-2 before the wheels fell off for the visitors defensively with three errors in what turned into a seven-run frame for C of I.
Prior to the big inning, the Yotes had taken a 2-0 lead right out of the chutes in the first before EOU answered back with solo runs in the fourth and sixth.
A trio of errors sparked the C of I onslaught of runs in the sixth, with an
Aleah Mendiola bloop single with the bases loaded turning into what would prove to be the costly dagger for the Mountaineers.
After Mendiola reached, Eastern second baseman Alaina Wright would hurl a wild throw trying to force out
Lacie Miller at second that went all the way down the left field line, with Mendiola eventually coming around to score sliding feet-first on one of the defining plays of the early season for the Yotes.
Later in the same inning, Loffer stole third and came home after an errant throw from catcher Makenzie Chambers.
Payton Bates capped off the scoring with an RBI single down the line in right to plate Crofts to make it 9-2.
All three teams return to action on Sunday at Symms Field. C of I will play Carroll at noon and Eastern Oregon at 4 p.m. Each of the three games can be viewed on the Yotes Digital Network.
