FLC 11, ASC 9
ASC 6, FLC 5

ALAMOSA, Colo. — The Fort Lewis softball team (6-9 overall,  4-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) split a two-game series with Adams State (3-7, 1-5) today at the ASC Softball Field, rallying for an 11-9 win in the opener before dropping a 6-5 decision in the nightcap.

Trailing 9-6 heading into their final at-bats of the opener, the Skyhawks struck quickly. Destinee DeHerrera led off the inning with a single and Chelsea Rodriguez belted her sixth round-tripper of the season to trim the lead to a single run. Hayley Bolyard, who had staked FLC to a 4-0 lead in the third on a two-run homer, was hit by a pitch to put the tying run aboard. After Kamali'i Peneku walked, Natalie Janes doubled to right center to tie the score. Stephanie Janes then singled through the hole to push across a pair of runs.

She wasn't done. Stephanie entered the game as a relief pitcher in the fifth, and retired three out of four Grizzlies in the seventh, striking out the final two batters, Lizzy Schossow and Symone Loomis-Dotson. Janes (1-3) picked up her first victory of the season, allowing just one run and two hits in three innings of relief while striking out three.

Kassie Haubert started the game, but lasted just four innings while allowing eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits.

Several Skyhawks had big games at the plate in the opener, but none more so than Rodriguez, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, four runs batted in, and three runs scored. The Janes twins also swung hot bats, with Stephanie going 2-for-2 with three RBI and Natalie 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

ASC's Rebecca Lindquist went 4-for-4 with a home run, two RBI, and one run scored. Katelyn Lovato went 1-for-3, but scored three runs, drove in three, and hit a home run.

The Grizzlies used four pitchers in the game, with reliever Michelle McNally (0-2) taking the loss. McNally faced two batters in the seventh but retired neither, allowing one hit and one walk and getting tagged for two earned runs.

“Game one was a real all-around team effort with 11 hits overall,” said second-year FLC head coach Kira Zeiter, who played her entire collegiate career at Adams State and was an assistant for the Grizzlies while she earned her master's degree. “That's what you need in order to compete in the RMAC – to have a total team effort from top to bottom.”

The late-inning rally never happened for FLC in the second game, but the Skyhawks made the ASC crowd tense.

FLC's DeHerrera went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI in the second game. Stephanie Janes went 3-for-4 with an RBI and had a base hit in the seventh to keep chances for a second comeback alive.

After falling down 3-1 in the first, Peneku sent a scorcher down the right field line into the corner in the third for a three-run, inside-the-park home run to put FLC back on top 4-3.

The lead was short-lived, though. Lindquist belted a two-run shot to left to give the Grizzlies a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the third and they added an insurance run in the fourth after a two-out, three-base error by Natalie Janes.

The Janes twins got one back in the top of the fifth when Natalie and Stephanie doubled in consecutive at-bats, but 6-5 was as close as the Skyhawks would get.

Fort Lewis would strand two in the sixth and flirted with tying the game in the seventh when Natalie Janes sent a fly ball to deep center that was pulled in by Lovato at the fence for the second out. After sister Stephanie singled to left, pinch hitter Kaylynn Harmon grounded out to short to end the game.

Morgan McWilliams went the distance for ASC in her first start of the season to improve her record to 1-1. McWilliams allowed five earned runs on 11 hits and four walks, striking out three.

Alexis Villegas (3-2) took the loss for the Skyhawks, allowing six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and one walk, striking out five Grizzlies in the process. Olivia Bergman worked one inning of scoreless relief.

Erika Ecsedy went 3-for-3 at the plate for Adams State. Lindquist went 2-for-3 with a homer, a double, three RBI and two runs scored.

“That game came down to not doing the little things successfully,” said Zeiter.

Still, she praised all four of her pitchers for their success against the Grizzlies. “All four pitchers today did a great job.”

The two teams wrap up their four-game set with another doubleheader at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. tomorrow at the ASC Softball Field.