Lamar No Match for Red Hot Seward

The Seward County Lady Saints continued their red hot play Saturday afternoon at Lady Saints Field in Liberal, hammering the visiting Lamar Runnin’ Lopes 9-1 and 13-3 in a doubleheader to improve to 35-8 overall on the year.

In their second matchup of the week the Lady Saints got on the board right away, getting an RBI single from Becky Allen after a one out double from Pokey Ewell to give Seward a 1-0 lead after 1.

Lamar put two on in both the 2nd and 3rd innings but were unable to get anything across as Brittany Hopkins kept the 1-0 lead for Seward intact.

The Lady Saints rewarded their pitcher in the bottom half of the 3rd as their offense got going. The first three hitters of the inning reached for the Lady Saints in front of their top RBI woman Becky Allen. Allen wasted no time in blasting the first pitch that she saw over the left field wall for a grand slam home run to quickly put Seward on top 5-0. Two Lamar errors after the big fly allowed another Seward run to score and just like that it was 6-0 Seward at the end of 3.

After a pair of one out singles in the 4th by Lamar, it looked like Seward would chalk up two more runners left on base for the Lopes as the inning came to an end when Hopkins got a groundball on the infield, but this time it was the Lady Saints defense faltering to allow a run to let Lamar get on the board for the first time in the game cutting the Lady Saints lead to 6-1.

Seward leadoff hitter Andrea Sitter just missed her fourth home run of the season to lead off the Lady Saints 4th, as she had to settle for a triple, but she was able to come around and score on a two out single by Danielle Orr to get the run back for Seward to make it a 7-1 game.

Lamar got a two out RBI hit of their own in the top half of the 5th inning with a run scoring single to get back to within five at 7-2.

It remained a 7-2 game into the bottom of the 6th when Allen and Orr continued to swing their hot bats, both getting RBI singles to put Seward on top 9-2. With a runner on third and nobody out, leading by seven, Seward had three cracks to push the runner home to win the game, but they were unable to force the run rule and took a 9-2 lead into the 7th.

Hopkins wouldn’t need the extra help as she retired the Lopes side on just nine pitches in the top half of the 7th to close things out, giving the Lady Saints a 9-2 win over Lamar in game one.

Seward outhit Lamar 12-6 in the game and saw the top of their lineup excel in the win. Allen finished the game 3 for 4 with a home run and 6 RBI’s for the Lady Saints in the three hole while Sitter was 3 for 4 with a triple and 3 runs scored out of the leadoff spot for Seward. Hopkins earned her 15th win of the season in the circle, going 7 innings and allowing 6 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned for Seward.

SEWARD COUNTY/LAMAR GAME ONE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/sball/2013-14/files/SewardLamar1.pdf>

Seward wasted no time opening things up in game two of the doubleheader, scoring five times in the bottom of the 1st inning on an RBI single from Allen and 2 RBI singles from Joe Ann Rapoza and Tiffanie Bolanos to give them an early 5-0 lead.

The Lady Saints didn’t stop there as they came to hit in the 2nd as the first three hitters of the inning reached to load the bases with nobody out and a wild pitch and a beanball reloaded the bases and put Seward up 6-0. Marissa Chavez chopped a single through the left side of the infield to score two more for the Lady Saints, stretching their lead to 8-0 and later in the inning Vanessa Oakden did the same to make it a 10-0 game. A sac fly from Felisha Vogelaar plated Rapoza and with two outs Sitter got her second hit of the inning to drive home another run making it 12-0 Seward after just 2 innings.

Despite the long inning, Seward starter Katelyn Craker maintained focus, working a 1-2-3 top half of the 3rd against the Lopes to keep the score 12-0 and the Lady Saints added another run in the bottom half of the inning on a two out single off the Lopes pitcher by Oakden to make it 13-0 Seward.

Lamar got a run in the 4th and two more in the 5th, but it was far too little too late as the run rule kicked in on a 13-3 Seward County win.

Again the Lady Saints beat the ball all over the yard in the win, outhitting the Lopes 13-5 in the contest. Sitter had 3 more hits at the top of the Seward order while Rapoza, Chavez, and Bolanos each had 2 RBI’s while Oakden had 2 hits and drove in 3 in the win. Craker went 4 innings, allowing just 2 hits and 1 run to improve her 2014 record to 17-2.

SEWARD COUNTY/LAMAR GAME TWO BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/sball/2013-14/files/SewardLamar2.pdf>

Seward improves to 35-8 overall on the year and has now won 13 of their last 14 contests. Lamar falls to a game under .500 at 22-23.

Next up for the Lady Saints is a Tuesday non-conference doubleheader against Clarendon in Texas followed by a weekend tournament in Colby where they will play a host of Region IX foes including Lamar once again.