Box Score 1 I
Box Score 2KEARNEY, Neb. – The Northeastern State softball team split a doubleheader with the University of Nebraska-Kearney Saturday afternoon at Dryden Park.
The RiverHawks (14-18, 6-8 MIAA) defeated Nebraska-Kearney (10-21, 8-8 MIAA) 4-2 before falling 10-6 in game two. After not splitting a series the entire year, NSU split both doubleheaders this weekend.
Junior
Megan Ewton was 3-for-6 on the day, including going 2-for-2 with a home run in the first game. Six RiverHawks had two hits on the day and they were freshman
Jessica Boone (2-for-9), sophomore
Madison Boyd (2-for-7), senior
Alli Eales (2-for-8), sophomore
Ryan Martin (2-for-5), freshman
Brianna Trujillo (2-for-5) and freshman
Kaleigh Hinkle (2-for-6).
Northeastern State will next host the University of Central Oklahoma in an MIAA conference doubleheader. The first game is set to begin at 2 p.m. April 3 at RiverHawks Park.
NORTHEASTERN STATE 4, NEBRASKA-KEARNEY 2Nebraska-Kearney took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. They pushed across another run to take a 2-0 lead in the third.
NSU responded in the fourth inning, cutting the Lopers lead to 2-1 when Martin hit a solo home run to left field.
The RiverHawks added two runs in the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead. The green and white added an additional insurance run in the sixth inning on a Ewton home run.
Junior
Kayce Wooldridge (8-6) threw 7.0 innings and conceded two runs (zero earned). Wooldridge only allowed three hits while striking out two.
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY 10, NORTHEASTERN STATE 6Northeastern State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on RBI by Gann and Aguilar.
UNK got one run back in the bottom of the inning when Katie Ruwe hit an RBI single up the middle.
The score remained the same until the bottom of the third inning, when the Lopers brought across six runs on four hits.
The green and white continued to battle, scoring three runs of their own in the fourth inning. An additional NSU run in the fifth inning cut the lead to one at 6-5.
The Lopers responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, and plated an additional insurance run in the sixth inning to push the score to the final of 10-6.
Wooldridge (8-7) started the game in the circle for the RiverHawks and took the loss. She allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 2.2 innings. Senior
Laura Fleck gave up two runs on one hit. Junior
Alex Files threw the final 3.1 innings. She conceded three runs on five hits and recorded one strikeout.
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH CLAY DAVISInitial statement…"We went 2-2 on a tough road trip for us. We're a little disappointed, but we did enough to at least keep ourselves in the fight for the MIAA tournament. We need to do a better job in the back half of doubleheaders. We need to figure out ways to sweep people and we need to have some other pitchers step up for us."
On Kayce Wooldridge throwing two complete game victories on the weekend…"Wooldridge did a great job and competed hard. We asked a lot of her, trying to double her up and throw the second game today but she just ran out of gas. She threw a lot of pitches over a two day span. We need to get somebody to follow her lead, follow her up and give us a chance to compete in the second game."
On the offense…"I'm proud of our offense. We're swinging the bat really well. When we put up five or six runs in a game, we should be able to find a way to win."
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-
