LACEY, WA – Saint Martin's softball team made a big splash to open conference play on Friday through the weekend. They went 3-1 against Central Washington.
In the start of the first game SMU was able to take the leap ahead in the bottom of the first when they got the bats rolling. The bottom of the first started with #15 Shelby Lawson singling to left field, following Lawson was #10 Britney Patrick who singled down to third base advancing Lawson to second. As #26 Heather Ebner came up to the plate, she doubled to right center scoring in Patrick and Lawson. This earned the Saints two runs by the bottom of the first. The matchup remained unchanged till CWU scored in the top of the third, this then changed the score to CWU one and SMU two. The game continued and remained the same till the Saints took control in the bottom of the fifth. This inning started with #10 Britney Patrick singling to left field, up next was #26 Heather Ebner who crushed this pitch out of the park earning a stellar Homerun earning two more runs for Saint Martin's. The end of this inning left the score at SMU four and CWU one. CWU was able to earn one more run in the top of the sixth, leaving the score CWU two and SMU four. The matchup ended after CWU wasn't able to close the gap in the top of the 7th and SMU took the win.
Final score Central Washington 2 Saint Martin's 4
The second game against Central Washington, it was a non-scoring game till Saint Martin's was able to score the first run of the game in the bottom of the third. After #9 Destiny Salamanca pinch hit, she reached on an error by the shortstop causing #23 Ashley Goodale to score unearned. In the top of the fourth CWU was able to score tying it up one to one. The Saints started to come back in the bottom of the fifth when #10 Britney Patrick tripled to right field getting her in scoring position with only one out. Ebner flied out to center field giving Patrick time to tag up and scoring to push the Saints ahead of CWU. This left SMU with two and CWU with one. CWU tied the score up in the top of the sixth. After CWU tied the score in the top of the sixth they were able to take the lead in top of the seventh where they scored two more runs make the score CWU four and SMU two. The Saints tried to come back in the bottom of the seventh when Ebner doubled out to left center scoring in Goodale, bring the SMU to three runs and CWU still at four. After a hard battle in the seventh the Saints weren't able to score anymore, and the win was secured by CWU.
Final score Central Washington 4 Saint Martin's 3
The third game of the series against CWU took place in Ellensburg Washington. This game went into extra innings as SMU battled for the win. CWU took the first score of the game in the top of the first. SMU started to come back in the bottom third when #15 Shelby Lawson flied out to the infield batting Lopes and tying the score against Central. The game remained tied till the bottom of the fifth when #26 Heather Ebner come up to the plate and scored two runs after smashing
another homer to center field. SMU took the lead after the bottom of the fifth with three runs and CWU with one. CWU came back in the top of the sixth to take the lead scoring three runs, this made the score CWU four and SMU three. SMU comes back to clear the gap when #4 Kekai Schultz comes up and smashes the ball over the fence for a homerun scoring herself. This tied SMU and CWU once again. The Saints remained tied with Central, this put the game in extra innings. The next run to be scored was CWU in the top of the tenth giving them the lead by one. SMU was able to answer back in the bottom of the tenth after #19 Olivia Matlock singled up the middle scoring Schultz, other plays that didn't result in runs were #1 Shay Lopes doubled to left center. This tied the score five for SMU and five for CWU. Once again CWU takes the lead in the top of the 11th but SMU answers back. SMU in the bottom of the 11th also scores another run when Ebner grounded out to second but gave Goodale enough time to score. This once again ties the score six SMU and six CWU. To end the game SMU manages to score in the bottom of the 12th taking the lead, this happened when #1 Shay Lopes doubled to right field scoring #7 Vanessa Smoke. This secured the win for SMU.
Final score SMU 7 CWU 6
The final game of the series between SMU and CWU. Saint Martin's scored the first run of the matchup in the bottom of the first, they came on strong even after playing extra innings in the pervious game. AMU scores in the bottom of the first after #1 Shay Lopes singles to right field advancing #26 Heather Ebner and scoring the run #23 Ashley Goodale. The second run was also scored in the bottom of the first by the Saints when #7 Vanessa Smoke singled to right field as well scoring Ebner, making the score two SMU and zero CWU. Central manages to take the lead in the second inning after scoring three runs, giving then a one lead over SMU. After a few innings the next set of runs were earned by SMU. The Saints scored two more runs when #10 Britney Patrick doubled to left field scoring the runners on base which included #23 Ashley Goodale and #15 Shelby Lawson. This gave Saint Martin's the lead with four and CWU three. Central was able to come back and score two runs over SMU taking the lead. The Saints remained strong and closed the gap between them. SMU in the bottom of the fifth scored #4 Kekai Schultz when Matlock singled to right center. This tied the match between SMU and CWU. SMU took the lead in the bottom of the sixth after Patrick doubled out to left center, this put her on second and when #26 Heather Ebner came up to bat she singled to second base scoring Patrick on an error by second base. SMU also earned another run when Smoke singled to left center scoring Lopes. This gave Saint Martin's a score of seven run and CWU five. CWU managed to score one run in the next inning but failed to take the lead. SMU took the win of the final game.
Final score SMU 7 CWU 6
