Royal takes two from Warden

Bill Barker gets win No. 399 in the process

Bill Barker took the second half of game two and relaxed.

The Royal softball coach enjoyed the 5-1 win in game one and the 5-1 win in game two.

"It was fun today," Barker said. "I sat in the dugout the last part of the game and watched the girls play and it was nice to see them use everything we have been teaching them."

Barker sat on win No. 397 coming into the doubleheader and came out with No. 399 and sole possession of first place in the SCAC East. For Warden, they fell to second in the division.

"I figured it was going to be a low scoring game and both pitchers did well," Warden head coach Wes Richins said. "If our batters had given us a little more run support, we would have been in these games."

The Cougars score one run in each game, both coming in the bottom of the seventh inning. Robyn Verhey held Warden hitless through three innings before giving up a hit to Sierra Kisler to open the bottom of the fourth. Verhey allowed one more hit in the seventh to Jennifer Whitaker to score Kisler from second.

Verhey went seven innings with three strike outs in the win. Ashley Baker took the mound for the Knights in the second game, allowing three hits over five innings and striking out five along the way. Sophomore Kali Delgado came in on relief in the sixth and allowed three hits and one run over two innings.

"I expect that out of them every time they step out on the mound," Barker said. "There isn't any team that has three pitchers who can come into a game at any time."

The Knights took advantage of their speed, stealing seven bases in the first game and five in the second to keep themselves in scoring position. Warden had 10 total base runners in the series and didn't threaten Royal until the bottom of the seventh inning in both games.

"They had some solid pitching all the way around and we hit the ball fairly well, but right at people," Richins said. "We needed to get a break here or there and didn't get it."

Royal jumped out to an early, first inning 2-0 lead in game one, but Warden's Jennifer Kottong settled down on the mound and allowed only three hits over the next four innings and struck out four. In the seventh, Kottong got the first two batters to ground out, then gave up a walk to Baker.

Baker stole second and third and scored on an error committed by the second baseman. Natalin Jones, who reached safely on the error, stole and second and third and scored on an error by the center fielder to put Royal up 4-0 with two outs in the top of the seventh. Kaysee Brown scored the final run of the inning on an error by the third baseman.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sierra Kisler reached base on an infield error for Warden's second base runner of the game. Kisler stole second base and scored on a single to center field by Jennifer Whitaker for the only run of the game.

Brown started game two with a base hit off Cougar pitcher Katie Jensen and scored on a double by Tori Gonzales for the early lead. Jones got an infield hit in the next inning, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brown and scored on a base hit by Gonzales.

Royal got two unearned runs in the sixth for more cushion on the Cougars with a 5-0 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sara Elizalde reached base on a shortstop error and Jensen hit a single to center field to put two runners on and no outs in the inning. Ceira Pruneda hit into a fielder's choice to get Elizalde out at second, but the Cougars loaded the bases with one out after a Stacey Ruge walk.

Marce Villegas hit an RBI single for the only run of the game.

Royal came out of the sweep as the top team in the SCAC East and the No. 1 seed heading into the district playoffs.

"It is what we had planned all the way along," Barker said.