The Seward County Lady Saints took game one of their Spring Break trip to Arizona 2-1 against Scottsdale Monday afternoon, but the Fighting Artichokes came back to take game two 7-3 to force Seward to settle for a split in their first of four days of action in the desert.
Scottsdale got on the board first in game one, putting together a pair of 1st inning doubles to jump ahead 1-0 on the Lady Saints.
That would be all the scoring for a while as Seward’s Monique Ashley and Scottsdale’s Kami Shull kept the opposite sides off the board through the next two innings to keep it a 1-0 Scottsdale lead after three.
Seward finally cracked the scoreboard in the 4th as Taylor Kathler smacked a two run double to put the Lady Saints in front 2-1.
The Lady Saints didn’t score again, but they didn’t need to as Ashley kept the Fighting Artichokes at bay the rest of the way, working a perfect 1-2-3 bottom of the 7th including finishing the game in style with a strikeout to preserve the 2-1 win for Seward.
Ashley went the distance in the circle, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out eight to improve to 15-1 on the year for the Lady Saints. Seward had just six hits of their own, led by Kathler who finished 2 for 3 with the Lady Saints only extra base hit of the contest and both of their runs driven home.
SEWARD COUNTY/SCOTTSDALE GAME ONE BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/sball/2016-17/boxscores/20170313_l8kt.xml>
In game two, it was again the ‘Chokes jumping in front early with a 1st inning run to take a 1-0 lead.
Scottsdale blew things open in the 2nd, scoring on five consecutive plays in the inning to stretch their advantage to 7-0 after two.
Kathler drove home her third run of the day with a sac fly to finally get the Lady Saints on the board in the Seward 4th to make it a 7-1 game and the Lady Saints plated two more in the 5th as Maycee Koontz launched a solo home run and Jordan Garrison lifted a sac fly to get Seward back to within four at 7-3.
That was all offense that the Lady Saints were able to muster though as the Artichokes finished them off in the 7th to take the contest 7-3 and split the twinbill.
Seward outhit Scottsdale 8-7 in the game, but committed four errors, leading to six unearned runs in the loss. Seven of the nine Lady Saint starters had hits in the defeat including Koontz who was 2 for 4 with her 5th inning homer and an RBI. Sydney Epp struggled in the circle, allowing seven runs in just 1 1/3 inning to fall to 2-1 on the year. Macy Pritchard was solid out of the Seward bullpen, going 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit in the process.
SEWARD COUNTY/SCOTTSDALE GAME TWO BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/sball/2016-17/boxscores/20170313_kpw0.xml>
Seward moves to 24-9 with the split while Scottsdale earns their seventh win of the year to go to 7-17.
The Lady Saints will continue their action in the desert on Tuesday when they take on North Dakota’s Williston State at 2:00 CST in doubleheader action.