Jay Daubenberger

Liberal, Kansas – Seward County softball continued their win streak on Wednesday with a doubleheader sweep over the Pratt Beavers where in both games the two teams entered the seventh tied before the Lady Saints managed to squeak past their opponents to grow their win streak out to eight.

Pratt struck first with an RBI double in the top of the first of game one to push ahead 1-0 over the Lady Saints before Raeana Ortiz tied the score up at 1-1 with a single on a bunt to drive in Samantha Gomez. Costly drops by Seward County in the top of the third caused them to fall behind by three as the Lady Saints struggled on the defensive side of the ball. Their offense however was able to connect on hits in timely fashion as Aaliyah Gutierrez stole home on a wild pitch while Anberlin O’Dell hit an RBI single to right field to close the gap to one at 4-3. The Beavers added another run to their total in the following inning to grow their lead back to two, but a monster three-run homer from Ortiz gave the Lady Saints a one score lead 6-5 heading into the sixth. Pratt locked things up at 6-6 heading into the seventh inning where Kamryn Martinez helped hold the Beavers at bay with a strikeout to send them back to the dugout while an RBI single from Gomez helped drive in Alyssa Morgan to finish off game one with a 7-6 win.

Gutierrez put the Lady Saints on the board in a big way in game two after Pratt took a 2-1 lead in the second as Seward County loaded the bases and Gutierrez slammed it out of the park for a grand slam to put SCCC ahead 5-2. Four runs in the fifth by the Beavers put Pratt back in front 6-5 while a 2 RBI single out to left field from Brooklyn Castagnetta gave Seward County the lead back at 7-6 until another score from the Beavers in the sixth locked it back up at 7-7. Heading into the bottom of the seventh the Lady Saints needed another big hit to drive in the game winning run and it was Castagnetta who answered with an RBI double to send O’Dell home and win game two to complete the doubleheader sweep.

Now after extending their win streak to eight, Seward County sits with a 24-14 overall record and 18-6 in KJCCC action. The Lady Saints will prepare for a matchup between two of the top three teams in the Jayhawk as they make a trip to Hutchinson to face the Blue Dragons on Saturday with game one of the doubleheader starting at 1:00 PM.