FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Kennesaw State swept day two of the Colorado State Classic with wins over Purdue and Colorado State at Ram Field.
GAME ONE
A four-run eighth inning lifted the Owls to an 8-6 victory over Purdue early Saturday morning.
Purdue (14-8) struck first in the third inning with a two-out RBI single to right field.
KSU (19-4) would answer right back in the fourth with a one-out solo homerun off the bat of Katie Greep.
Abby Deane entered the circle in the relief of Peyton Elzey in the bottom of the fourth. Elzey surrendered two runs off of seven hits and struck out three batters in 3.1 innings of work.
The Boilermakers bounced back with a three-run fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead.
In the top of the fifth with two outs in the inning, Lexi Solorzano hit a solo homerun to left field to cut the Purdue lead to two.
Faith Alexander led off the seventh by reaching base on a fielding error. She advanced to second on a throwing error by the Purdue infield. Jade Lee cashed in the errors with an RBI single to left to cut the deficit to one. After Lee advanced to third on a foul out by Solorzano, Cheyanne Sales walked to put runners on the corners with two outs. Greep came through clutch with an RBI single up the middle to collect her second RBI and tie the game up at four.
Melanie Bennett took over for Deane in the bottom of the seventh. Deane allowed two runs on one hit, walked two batters and hit two over 2.2 innings of work.
Taylor Cates got the scoring started in the eighth with an RBI double to center to drive in Kylie Vannavong. Pacy Villa got in on the action with an RBI single to right center to give the Owls some insurance. Alexander subbed back in to run the bases and scored on a bunt from Brea Dickey to increase the KSU lead. Lee doubled with two outs and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Cheyanne Sales.
Purdue earned two runs in the eighth on two-run homerun with two outs in the inning, but fly ball to right field ended the game.
Bennett earned the win in relief for KSU, giving up two runs, one earned, off of two hits and struck out three batters.
GAME TWO
Big innings from the offense help the Owls sweep the doubleheader with a win over Colorado State.
Katie Greep led off the second inning with a double to right-center field. After a walk from Hannah Thomason, Kylie Vannavong bunted the runners over to second and third to put two runners in scoring position with one out in the inning. Greep scored the first run of the game on a wild pitch. Thomason later scored on another wild pitch to give KSU (20-4) a two-run advantage.
The Rams (9-11) collected the team's first hit of the game on a single to right field with one out in the fourth inning. CSU got another runner on from a throwing error, but couldn't push a run across.
The Owls scored three runs in the fifth inning to increase the lead to 5-0. With runners on the corners, Brea Dickey reached on a fielder's choice to score Taylor Cates. Lexi Solorzano stole the show with a two-run homerun with two outs in the inning, her second homerun in as many games.
KSU broke it open in the sixth with a four-run inning. Taylor Cates drove in two runs with a double to right center. Dickey got in on the fun with an RBI double to left field to drive in Cates. Jade Lee drove in Dickey on an RBI single to left and gave KSU a 9-0 lead.
CSU got on the board in the sixth with a solo homerun to left center with one out in the inning. The Ram bats could muster up anything else as KSU collected the 9-1 run rule victory.
Bennett picked up her second win of the day for the Owls. She gave up one run on two hits, two walks and she struck out three over six innings of work.
NEXT UP
The Owls will finish the Colorado State Classic with one final game tomorrow against Idaho State at noon.
