The #7th-ranked Gorillas softball swept Emporia St. and Washburn, bringing their record to 34-1. Their only loss was to Winona State. Pitt State won doubleheaders on Friday, March 27, and Saturday, March 28.
The Gorillas started strong in game one against the Hornets, with Graduate Student Kadyn Trochim and Senior Lexi Davis each driving in a run in the first. In the third, Junior Taylor Lundien singled down the foul line with the bases loaded, extending the lead to 3-0. The Hornets homered in the fourth, narrowing the gap to 3-2. Trochim’s RBI in the sixth made it 4-2, but the Hornets responded with a run to bring it to 4-3. In the seventh, Davis hit her first home run of the season, and Senior Sailor Hall pitched a shutout final inning to secure the 5-3 win.
Head Coach Josh Barnes says that his team takes it one game at a time and doesn’t focus on the entire season at once when it comes to close games, “This group has a lot of confidence in themselves and they really don’t think of the season as a whole and that they are a very talented team in a multitude of ways and even if we are behind we have a lot of opportunities to win.”
Pitt State started slowly in the second game against the Hornets but quickly found momentum. Trochim and Junior Bailey Haselhorst hit sac flies to bring in runs in the third and fourth innings. In the fifth, Hall and Junior Haili Igou reached base on errors, and the Gorillas scored two more, bringing the score to 5-0. The Hornets answered with a triple to right center, scoring two runs and closing the gap to 5-2. The Gorillas dominated the sixth inning, with Davis and Hall driving in four more runs to make it 9-2. The Gorillas then held the Hornets scoreless for the rest of the game.
Junior Emma Crabb led the Gorillas as pitcher in the first game, and she led the charge towards victory as she pitched a complete game shutout. Davis led off the scoring by singling to left field, bringing in one run in the first inning. The Gorillas scored big in the third with Senior Sailor Hall, Davis, and Senior Kyleigh Lamont all driving in a total of four runs in the third inning. Davis singled to center field to drive home the final score of the game, with the ending score being 6-0.
The Gorillas swung big in the final game of the doubleheader, collecting 13 hits while also getting on base from walks and being hit by pitches a total of seven times. Junior Trista Peterson hit the first score in with a sac fly in the second inning. Hall led the scoring of the third inning, hitting a double to left center and driving in two runs. The Ichabods scored one in the third inning off an error. Trochim doubled down the infield line to drive in two more runs, bringing the total score to 5-1. Junior Rachael Schlotter hit a groundout to second base, but drove in a run in the fifth. Senior Heather Arnett hit a single that turned into a double thanks to an error committed by the Ichabods, with her single-turned-double driving in two more runs for the Gorillas. The Ichabods scored two more in the fifth due to an error committed by the Gorillas. The Gorillas ended the game strong with Schlotter hitting a double to left, scoring one run, and Arnett hitting a triple down the infield line, scoring two more runs, causing a run-rule ending to the game in the sixth inning. The final score was 11-3 with the Gorillas winning in dominant fashion.
Coach Barnes says that playing at home means so much more compared to on the road, “Being here at home means so much more.” Your Pittsburg State Softball team will return to action at home in a doubleheader against the Rogers State University Hillcats on Friday, April 3.