Ashley Shines in Midland College Classic

MIDLAND, Texas – The Seward County softball team sandwiched two wins around a loss in Midland today, defeating Luna 5-2 and El Paso 9-5, while losing to Howard 23-2. Monique Ashley picked up two wins while striking out 24 batters in 12.2 innings pitched.

SEWARD COUNTY VS LUNA RECAP

The first game of the day proved to be the combination of offense and defense that the Lady Saints have been looking for early in the season. Monique Ashley (2-2) earned the start in the circle, picking up the win with a complete game, striking out 17 batters over 7.0 innings pitched. The 17 strikeouts is tied for third-most in a single-game in Seward County history.

After a scoreless first inning, Madeline Owen put the Lady Saints on the board with a leadoff homerun to right field in the bottom of the 2nd to give Seward an early 1-0 lead.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, Jullian Atteberry reached on a single to right field before Sydney Epp hit a line drive down the first base line to bring Atteberry home, making the score 2-0.

The Lady Saints kept the scoring going in the fourth inning. A walk off single by Owen, followed by a walk by Kaitlin Ammermann put runners on first and second for Lexi Manyik, who singled on a hard grounder to short stop. The ball hit the gap, reaching the outfield to bring home Owen, putting Seward up 3-0. Two batters later Sage Harrison got ahold of a pitch, sending the ball over the center field wall for a two-run home run, bring the game to 5-0.

The Rough Riders got on board in the top of the 5th, with a two-run inside the park home run by Anna Martinez. The hit brought home Sarah Rocha, who reached on a lead off bunt.

With the game at 5-2, Ashley handled the rest, retiring the side in the 6th and 7th innings to give the Lady Saints the victory.

The Lady Saints came away with nine hits with Owen and Harrison both coming away with two hits. Harrison also led Seward with two RBI.

SEWARD COUNTY VS HOWARD RECAP

The Lady Saints let game two of the day get away from them early, falling 23-2 in the run rule. Corinna Porras started in the circle, pitching getting just one out before giving up seven runs. Jordan Cordrey and Sydney Epp relieved Porras, both giving up another eight runs over the next 3.2 innings.

The Hawks came out hot, hitting four home runs in the bottom of the first inning. A one-run double and two-run single to end the inning put the Lady Saints in massive 9-0 hole to start the game.

In the bottom of the second, a single and a walk put runners at first and second for the Hawks before a double brought home the first run. An error on the next play brought another Hawk home, making it 11-0. After taking a called strike, a single on the next at-bat promptly made it 12-0.

Howard wasn’t done in the inning yet, as another error brought home the 13th run of the game for the Hawks. With the bases loaded, a hit-by-pitch made it 14-0 before a sac fly made it 15-0 in favor of Howard.

Two walks and a single in the bottom of the third loaded the bases for the Hawks. A triple brought home all three runners to make the score 18-0. Howard scored two more runs in the inning off a one run single and a fielder’s choice to bring the game to 20-0.

A ground-out in the bottom of the fourth inning allowed a 21st run to score for the Hawks, but still kept a runner on third base for the next batter to hit a two-run home run, making it 23-0.

A last-ditch effort by the Lady Saints brought home two runs in the top of the fifth, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the run rule from occurring. An error on a Madeline Owen hit brought home Jullian Atteberry and a ground out by Kaitlin Ammermann scored Sydney Epp. A fly out to left field ended the game, 23-2.

The Lady Saints came away with just five hits against Howard coming from Atteberry, Epp, Ammermann, Paige St. Pierre and Sage Harrison.

SEWARD COUNTY VS EL PASO RECAP

Jordan Cordrey started for the Lady Saints in the third game of the day, but it was Monique Ashley (3-2) who came away with the victory after taking over in the 2nd inning. Ashley pitched 5.2 innings, striking out seven batters.

El Paso got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff double put a runner in scoring position. The third batter grounded out to the Lexi Manyik, driving home the run from second to make it 1-0.

The Lady Saints answered in the top of the second to tie the game. A leadoff double by Madeline Owen followed by a sacrifice bunt put Owen on third base. Manyik flew out to left field, but it was enough to bring home Owen, tying the game 1-1.

It appeared the game would get out of hand in the bottom of the second. With a runner on first, the Tejanas hit a one run single to put the score at 2-1. A hit by pitch and a single loaded the bases for El Paso. A sacrifice bunt brought home another run, but the batter reached base safely, keeping the bases loaded and extending the lead 3-1. Ashley entered the game at pitcher, striking out the first batter and forcing a groundout on the next to successfully evade the threat.

In the top of the second, the Lady Saints continued their early game rally with a leadoff home run by Sage Harrison to left field to bring the game to 3-2.

A big fourth inning surge helped the Lady Saints gain a lead. After a line out by Leena Mortensen, Owen triple on a ball hit to right field. Ammermann brought home Owen with the next at bat with a hard-hit ground ball to shortstop. Paige St. Pierre stepped into the box two batters later and jacked a two-run home run over the center field wall to give Seward a 5-3 lead.

The Tejanas came back in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game. A single and an error put runners on first and second to start the inning. Another single hit to center field drove home the first run, before a fly ball to center field brought home the game tying run, making it 5-5.

The game stayed tied until the final inning of play. Sage Harrison broke the tie with a leadoff home run to left field, giving the Lady Saints a 6-5 lead. Atteberry reached first on a single to centerfield in between two strikeouts. With two outs and a one run lead, Mortensen singled on a line drive to left field to score Atteberry.

Owen singled on a ball to center field, pushing Mortensen into scoring position, where Ammermann knocked her home with a single to center field. An error on the following play allowed Owen to score, bring the game to 9-5.

Ashley struck out two and forced a single in the bottom of the seventh to end the game and give Seward the victory.

Seward came away with 12 hits in the game, with Atteberry, Owen, Ammermann, and Harrison all getting multiple hits. Ammermann, St. Pierre and Harrison each came away with 2 RBI.

Seward will wrap up the weekend with two games tomorrow (Feb. 10). The first game will be at 9:00 a.m. against Coastal Bend before taking on Odessa at 2:00 p.m.

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Ian Applegate