-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
Clean Sweep: Softball squad stays perfect at home
Archive
Comments
Story
The Boise State women’s softball team remained perfect after Saturday’s sweep of the Utah Valley Wolverines. Both teams came into the weekend with a batting average of more than .300, but it was not until the fourth inning of the first game when runs started scoring.
The Broncos started Aubray Zell on the mound. She came into the game with an 8-2 record on the season. For the first four innings of the game, both teams stayed relatively quiet. In the top of the fourth, the Wolverines got their bats going when they scored four runs, highlighted by Megan Niemann’s three-run double.
Down 5-0, the Broncos looked like their focus was elsewhere.
“I basically said that I am not mad because the score, I’m mad because of our mental game,” head coach Erin Thorpe said. “We’ve come back from big deficits, we know it’s one run at a time, one hit at a time . just keeping them positive and confident.”
The Broncos responded well with a big fourth inning themselves. BSU started with back-to-back hits from Ashley Viers-Gordillo and Kathy Cox. Christiana Capobianco brought in Viers-Gordillo and Kellie Caplan’s double scored Cox and Kelsey Perkins.
The Wolverines threatened multiple times, but relief pitcher Mandy Klein held the Wolverines in check.
“I knew that if the ball was put in play that the fielders were going to take care of it,” Klein said. “I was just trying to take care of the batter.”
In the seventh inning, BSU’s Laurel Wyatt brought in the game-tying run when her single brought in Cox, forcing the game to go into extra innings. The Wolverines were able to tack one more run to putting the pressure on the Broncos.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Cox singled in Tazz Weatherly for the tying run. With the bases loaded and one out, Capobianco flied deep enough to center for Laeha Hill to score from third to give the Broncos the 7-6 win. For Klein, it was first win of the season.
The second game, powered by homeruns from Cox, Capobianco, her sixth on the year and Jessi Hanna, whose homer was her first hit as a Bronco, were too much to handle for the Wolverines.
The story for BSU was starting pitcher Allie Crump. Crump allowed her first hit in the fifth, ending her bid at a no-hitter.
“I was hitting my spots and throwing hard mostly,” Crump said. “I almost had to get a little bit fired up .almost getting a little mad.”
Crump threw a complete game shutout with 12 strikeouts [a team record] with the combination of fastballs and off-speed pitches, making hits hard to come by for Utah Valley.
“We’ve been waiting for that kind of performance from Allie all year,” Thorpe said. “Today was her day to build that confidence.”
Video and editing by Josh Rasmussen
JOEY MCCULOUGH
Arbiter Journalist
