The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Curtis Meyer reporter
The Pitt State Gorillas had an impressive week, going 4-0 as they swept both Rogers State and Northeastern State at home. Winning two one score games on Saturday against Rogers State, the Gorillas followed that with larger wins on Sunday.
“It felt really good, it was a good team win. Especially with them being the number two team in the nation, we kind of had the underdog mentality, nothing to lose, go out there and give it our all. We just had fun,” said junior pitcher Hannah Harrison.
The Gorillas had to rely heavily on Harrison’s arm, as she led them to a shutout win in the first game of the week. Striking out 10 Hillcat batters and not allowing a single walk all game, she had an exceptional performance.
The only run of the game was scored off a fielding error by Rogers State, from a hit by senior Taylor Lambert. Senior Keenah Griffith ran it home to give the Gorillas the 1-0 lead, which turned out to be the final score thanks to some great defense by the Gorillas.
Immediately following this performance, Rogers State found its offense in the next game, with a single homer to put them up in the first. Pitt State answered, with junior Paxtyn Hayes hitting an RBI single to tie it up at 1 apiece.
The Hillcats took the lead shortly after, on a wild pitch then on a fielder’s choice. With the Gorillas down 3-1, bats went cold for most of the game. Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Hayes hit a three-run homer to take back the lead for the Gorillas. This would end up being the final score, 4-3.
“As a team we did awesome, we were together, we leaned on each other a lot to score runs. It takes a whole team to win, and I just think we stayed together and had a little swagger as a team and pulled it out. It was awesome and I enjoyed every bit of it,” said Griffith.
Following this, the Gorillas played the Northeastern State Riverhawks. It was another dominant pitching performance by Harrison in the first game of the series, as the Gorillas cruised to a 7-0 win. Pitt State got on the board early with RBI singles by both Hayes and Griffith in the first.
In the fourth inning, Pitt State broke the game open with two runs off fielder’s choices, hit by junior Kianna Pellegrino and freshman Heather Arnett. Arnett and Pellegrino followed that up by stealing second and home after a pitch, respectively.
With the score now 5-0, junior Gabby Schultz hit an RBI single in the fifth to extend the Gorillas lead. Arnett hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to make it 7-0, as the Gorillas took the first game. It almost wasn’t a shutout, as the Riverhawks had the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth, but Harrison came through to secure it.
“I worked on my breathing, you know to keep myself calm, collected, and just do what I know how to do. Trust my teammates,” said Harrison.
Immediately following this win, the Gorillas faced the Riverhawks again, winning 6-3. The Riverhawks got on the scoreboard first, scoring two runs in the first. This did not deter the Gorillas, as they scored 4 straight runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-2 lead.
Schultz hit a single to center field that was mishandled and led to both Hayes and junior Kylee Bohle scoring in the second. This would be Pitt States last runs of the day, as Northeastern held them scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Northeastern hit a homer in the fourth to make it 6-3, but that remained the score for the rest of the game as Pitt State took home the win. Pitt State will face Fort Hays and Nebraska Kearney next week, both away games.