Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Shelby Hotchkiss 3.6
Bob Bonnar, FLC Athletics
FLC senior Shelby Hotchkiss hit the go-ahead home run in Saturday's Game Two win over Adams State (File Photo)
11
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 2-7, 2-3 RMAC
2
Adams State ASU 0-7, 0-5 RMAC
Winner
Fort Lewis FLC
2-7, 2-3 RMAC
11
Final
2
Adams State ASU
0-7, 0-5 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E
Fort Lewis FLC 2 0 4 0 0 5 11 15 0
Adams State ASU 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 4 4

W: Leavell, Brianna (2-3) L: Taylor Sandoval (0-4)

7
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 2-7, 3-3 RMAC
4
Adams State ASU 0-8, 0-6 RMAC
Winner
Fort Lewis FLC
2-7, 3-3 RMAC
7
Final
4
Adams State ASU
0-8, 0-6 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Fort Lewis FLC 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 7 12 1
Adams State ASU 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 7 3

W: Keahbone, Kendra (1-0) L: Jade Garbiso (1-1)

Game Recap: Softball | | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

FLC bats bust out with 18 runs on 27 hits in Saturday's doubleheader sweep of Adams State

ALAMOSA, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College softball team broke out in a big way during Saturday's road doubleheader against Adams State University, scoring 18 runs on 27 combined hits en route to a sweep of the Grizzlies to kick off the four-game series.

Fort Lewis (3-7 overall, 3-3 RMAC) began the day with an 11-2 drubbing of Adams State (0-8 overall, 0-6 RMAC) before capping off the twin bill with an exciting 7-4, extra-inning victory in the nightcap.

"These were good wins for us and we definitely needed it. The girls fought hard that last game, had some things not go our way, but never gave up and got two wins we needed," said FLC head softball coach, Ashley Reeves. "We woke our bats up, scored runs and we had to make adjustments. I was proud to see our hitters adjust and drive the ball opposite-field when we needed to."
 
Game One

Fort Lewis began the afternoon with an offensive eruption, producing season highs in runs (11) and hits (15) en route to an 11-2 victory in six inning.

Seven different players recorded at least one hit, led by junior catcher McKenna Hefley and senior outfielder Shelby Hotchkiss each with three.

Hefley finished 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored and two driven in, while Hotchkiss was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

McKenna got the scoring started with a triple to left, scoring her twin sister Kylie Hefley after she led the first inning off with a single. It was the first of five triples the Skyhawks would produce on the day, three courtesy of the Hefley twins.

"Kylie and McKenna were each seeing the ball pretty big today. They did a great job of putting the ball in play, then putting pressure on the defense running out doubles and triples," Reeves said. "After everyone else seemed to start following and it was great to see production from our lineup top to bottom."

Holding a 2-1 lead, the Skyhawks added three runs in the third — the big swings being a RBI triple from senior utility player Hannah Gondini and RBI double from sophomore Sloan Shotton — then broke the game open with a five-run sixth inning.

Kylie Hefley finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored atop the FLC lineup, while Pilar Gutierrez (2-for-3, 1 run, 1 RBI), Gondini (2-for-4, 1 run, 1 RBI), Shotton (1-for-2, 2 RBI), sophomore Courtney Huff (1-for-3, 1 run, 1 RBI) and freshman Brianna Leavell (0-for-3, 2 RBI) all drove in runs for the Skyhawks.

Leavell also left her mark in the pitching circle as she went all six inning, striking out a career-high nine batters, en route to earning her second victory of 2021.

"Bri was throwing a ton of strikes and they were having some trouble catching up to her," Reeves said of Leavell. "She was able to stay in the zone and threw very well for us today."
 
Game Two

Saturday's finale started off as a pitcher's duel as FLC junior Emily Morris handcuffed the Grizzlies to no runs on one hit while striking out five through the game's first five innings.

The Skyhawks held a 1-0 lead — courtesy of a first-inning RBI groundout from McKenna Hefley to score Kylie Hefley — as the game moved to the sixth.

A RBI single from Leavell and two-run triple by senior Julia Roberts gave the Skyhawks a brief 4-0 cushion, but the Grizzlies answered back with four runs in the home-half of the frame to tie the game at 4-4 heading to the seventh.

Fort Lewis appeared to score the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh when Kylie Hefley launched a triple into the right-center field gap to score a runner from first. Unfortunately, the umpires ruled the runner left base early, resulting in an out, no triple on the play, and effectively extinguishing FLC's threat in the seventh.

"I thought it was going to be an inside-the-park, two-run home run. I stopped Kylie at third because I had already heard the umpire call the runner out," Reeves said. "The girls did a great job staying mentality focused and not letting that situation affect them."

FLC pulled ahead for good in the eighth when Hotchkiss drove a 3-1 pitch through the wind and out to dead center-field for her first home run in a Skyhawks' uniform.

The home run for Hotchkiss, a senior transfer from the Oregon Institute of Technology, gave her six hits on the afternoon, bumping her team-leading batting average to .440 on the season, and opened the floodgates.

FLC would tack on two more runs in the inning on another triple by Kylie Hefley, which scored pinch-runner Hannah Rutherford and junior Azalea Moore (2-for-4).

"It was a huge swing. The pitch hung a little bit and Shelby capitalized on it," Reeves said. "Everyone was excited and jumped on board with it. It was important for our team to get those runs, get the momentum back and go into the next half-inning with the lead."

Senior pitcher Kendra Keahbone nailed down the victory in the bottom of the eighth, finishing off her second inning of scoreless relief to pick up her first win of the season.

Fort Lewis will now look to build off the momentum of Saturday's victories when it completes the four-game set against the Grizzlies on Sunday. Game times are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Alamosa.

"Adams State is a team that is not going to give up, they're going to fight the entire time and we are too," Reeves said. "We did a great job in all three aspects of the game Saturday and we'll need to do that again tomorrow to get two wins."
 
Print Friendly Version