Lady Vikings continue upward surge with road success
ONTARIO, Ore. ?- Okay, now it might be time to take this little Big Bend Community College softball team pretty seriously.
This past weekend, the Lady Vikings opened Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) play on the road in Oregon and kick started what they hope could be a program defining season.
Step one toward the goal was in the bag on Saturday night and the Lady Vikings wrapped up a 3-1 weekend with a 5-3 win over Treasure Valley CC to split that doubleheader after sweeping hosts Blue Mountain CC 10-2 and 11-5 the previous day in Hermiston, Ore.
With three wins, Big Bend (10-4, 3-1) has already eclipsed its overall win total for all of 2010 with a few dozen games left to play.
"The kids played hard this weekend," Big Bend head coach Jeremy Iverson said. "It was fun to see them hit the ball the way they did. We did make some mistakes on Saturday, but they did not let that get the them."
Against TVCC (6-7, 2-2), the Lady Vikings dropped the opener 8-4, as they were hurt by three errors while allowing their hosts to ring up 11 hits.
Erika Hanson took the loss on the mound, while Brooke Vincent went 2-for-2 with two home runs and Kalli Heller went 2-for-4 with a home run, to lead the Lady Vikings' offense.
"Erika struggled a bit early in the game but the settled in," Iverson said of his pitcher who struck out five while giving up eight earned runs.
Big Bend evened things up with a tense 5-3 win in the second game, as they knocked out 10 hits to wrap up a late rally.
"It was such a fun game in the second one," Iverson said. "To see them not give up and come back to take the lead in the last at bat and then see the defense step up and win it was great."
Shantel McCashland pitched for the win for Big Bend, striking out eight while scattering seven hits and allowing one earned run.
Jessica Wald went 3-for-3 and hit a seventh inning home run to tie the game 3-3. Heller finished up 2-for-4, and Britney Miller went 1-for-4, but her one hit came up during the deciding last at bats for Big Bend, as she knocked in Bailey Ritchie who ultimately scored the winning run.
In their sweep against Blue Mountain (2-10, 0-4), the Lady Vikings got 15 hits in the first game to set the done for the doubleheader.
Hanson earned the win as she allowed only two hits - both solo homeruns ?- and struck out four in a mercy-rule win.
Ritchie went 2-for-3 with a home run and a double, Heller finished 2-for-4 with a home run, and Wald and Vincent each hit a double while going 2-for-3 apiece.
Ritchie and Heller's taters came back-to-back in the sixth inning.
In recording the sweep, Big Bend got a complete game win from McCashland who spread out 11 hits and struck out four.
Hanson went 3-for-3 with a round-tripper, Miller ended up 2-for-4 with a home run, and Kendra Schwulst and Vincent each belted out a double.
"We still have a long way to go, and like I have said before, they need to stay focused." Iverson said of his team, "They need to keep working on the little things and keep progressing as we move along with the season."