Photo by Jean St. Fleur

McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College softball team was back at home on Tuesday for a double header with the Haskell Indian Nations University Indians. The Tigers were able to come away with a pair of wins on the back of two strong pitching performances and two clean games defensively.

Game 1: W, 4-1

The story in game one was the lackluster hitting from the Tigers when they had runners on base. In all, the Tigers left seven runners stranded on base, with the majority of those in scoring position.
The Tigers did all of their damage in the second and third innings. They got on the board in the bottom of the second when Destiny Holt scored from third base on a wild pitch by the HINU pitcher. They broke the game open an inning later with three in the third.

Abby Schliesman opened the inning with a single through the left side of the infield that turned into a triple when the HINU leftfielder misplayed the ball and let it go all the way to the fence. Two batters later Schliesman would score on an RBI single by Ashley Vacarro. Vacarro would later score on another wild pitch. The third run of the inning was scored by Holt, driven in on single by Amberly Barrera.

The Indians broke up the shutout in the fifth inning on an RBI ground out to second base.

Hitting: The Tigers scored four runs on five hits. Four of the five were singles, the other was a double by Halee Wallin.

Pitching: Madalyn Griffin was in the circle for the Tigers in game one. She picked up her third win of the season with a complete game. She gave up just one run on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk.  

Leaders

Hits:                             Five Tigers (1)

Doubles:                     Halee Wallin (1)

Triples:                        none

Homeruns:                 none

RBI:                             Amberly Barrera, Ashley Vaccaro (1)

Stolen Bases:              Ashley Vacarro, Destiny Holt (2)

Strikeouts Pitching:   Madalyn Griffin (5)

Put Outs:                    Camryn Frick (6)

Assists:                        Camryn Frick (3)

Game 2: W, 8-0

The Tigers finished off the double header with an 8-0 win in six innings via the run rule. They jumped out to a quick lead, scoring four in the bottom of the first on RBI singles by Holt, and Mariah Garcia.

They went up 5-0 in the third inning, on another RBI single by Garcia that scored Holt. An inning later they added two more one when Vaccaro doubled home Frick and the other on a ground out by Holt that scored Vaccaro.

In the bottom of the sixth, leading 7-0, Miranda Tegtmeier pushed across the winning run on a ground out to the third, scoring Frick.

Hitting: The Tiger bats got hot in game two, to the tune of 10 hits. Eight of the ten were of the single base variety, the other two were doubles off the bats of Frick and Vaccaro.

Pitching: Sara Lynch pitched another gem for the Tigers. She went the distance, shutting out the Indians on four hits with four strikeouts, and just one walk.

Leaders

Hits:                             Camryn Frick (4)

Doubles:                     Camryn Frick, Ashley Vaccaro (1)

Triples:                        none

Homeruns:                 none

RBI:                             Mariah Garcia (3)

Stolen Bases:              Destiny Holt (2)

Strikeouts Pitching:   Sara Lynch (4)

Put Outs:                    Serena Fisher (6)

Assists:                        Mariah Garcia, Sara Lynch (2)

Coach Quote: "We got another two great games from our pitchers.  In the first game, we left way too many runners on.  In the second game, we finally got the offense going and earned the sweep." – Coach Scott Balbin

Next Up: The Tigers will return to SAC conference play this weekend in a four game series on the road against Oklahoma City University. Game times Friday are 5:00 & 8:00 pm. Saturday the series will resume at 12:00 pm.