Seward and Pratt Split to Force Winner Take All Game Thursday
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pratt Community College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
|
Seward County Community College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pratt Community College | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 3 |
|
Seward County Community College | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 0 |
It looked like it would be a walk in the park for the Seward County Lady Saints Wednesday as they took on the last place team in the Jayhawk West in the Pratt Beavers, a team that they had swept all four times in their regular season matchups in the 1st round of the 2015 Region VI Tournament. It was quite a different story however as Seward never got going in game one of the best of three series, watching the Beavers score three times in the top half of the 7th inning to stun them 3-1. In game two Pratt jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning but the Lady Saints responded with an offensive onslaught this time, eventually run ruling Pratt 11-3 in five innings to force a winner take all game Thursday at Lady Saints Field in Liberal.
Game one was an unexpected pitcher's duel between Seward's Alexa O'Brien and Pratt's Emily Lucas. O'Brien had five strikeouts through three shutout innings to open the game but Lucas was able to keep Seward in check as well, holding the Lady Saints without a hit through three to keep it a scoreless game.
O'Brien worked another 1-2-3 innings in the top of the 4th, but Seward's bats remained cold as it took Lucas just three pitches to retire the Lady Saints side as it remained a 0-0 game.
The Lady Saints didn't get their first hit of the game until there was one out in the 5th inning, but it was a big one, a triple to the right center field gap by Grace Petersen and she would score on a two out bloop hit from Danielle Orr to give Seward a 1-0 lead.
O'Brien continued to dazzle in the 6th, working her fourth straight 1-2-3 inning, but the Lady Saints couldn't extend upon their lead and it stayed a 1-0 game into the final inning of play.
In the 7th the Beavers broke through, getting three straight one out hits to score the equalizing run and after a walk loaded the bases, back to back singles to take a 3-1 lead before O'Brien was removed from the game.
In their final at bats Seward barely put up a fight as they were once again sat down 1-2-3 in swift fashion as they were shocked in game one by the Beavers 3-1.
Seward finished with just 4 hits in the loss with Petersen collecting the Lady Saints only extra base hit of the game and also scoring their lone run. Orr was 1 for 2 and was on base twice, driving in the Lady Saints only run of the contest. Despite going into the 7th with a one hit shutout intact, O'Brien suffered the loss in the circle for the Lady Saints, eventually allowing 6 hits and 3 runs to drop to 16-13 on the year. She struck out 8 Beaver hitters and walked 1.
SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT GAME ONE BOX SCORE
Game two didn't start so well for the Lady Saints either as Pratt jumped out to a 2-0 lead on three 1st inning hits to grab the early advantage.
This time though the Lady Saints responded. After an ice cold game with the bats in the opener, Seward put up a crooked number in the 1st inning of game two, getting an RBI double from Kolby Hamilton and a bases loaded single from Kennedy Brunson to score two highlighting a four run inning for the gals in green to give them a 4-2 lead.
Seward added to their lead in the 2nd as Vanessa Oakden came up big with two outs, driving home a pair with a double to stretch the Seward lead to 6-2.
A pair of Pratt errors gifted the Lady Saints a run in the 3rd to make it 7-2, but the Beavers got the run right back on three straight two out hits in the 4th to cut the Lady Saints lead back to 7-3.
The Lady Saints loaded the bases with one out in the 4th and Tiffanie Bolanos unloaded the bases with a bullet double down the left field line to push the Seward lead back to 10-3 and an RBI groundout from Hamilton later in the inning scored Bolanos to make it an 11-3 game.
After a leadoff single, Seward pitcher Jaclyn Wagner shut the Beavers down in the 5th, getting a pair of groundouts before a strikeout to end the inning and the game, giving the Lady Saints an 11-3 run rule win.
Seward pounded out 12 hits in the win, getting at least one hit from eight of nine starters in the contest. Hamilton finished 2 for 4 with 2 RBI's for Seward while Oakden was 2 for 3 with 2 driven home. Bolanos had a season high 4 RBI's for the Lady Saints while Brunson was 2 for 2 with a run scored and an RBI. Wagner earned the win in the circle, going the distance and allowing 8 hits and 3 runs while striking out 5 to move to 19-8 on the year.
SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT GAME TWO BOX SCORE
The split moves Seward to 35-23 on the year while the Beavers go to 10-36. With each team winning one game on day one, the two will now play at 1:00 Thursday at Lady Saints Field in a winner take all game three in the series. The victor will advance to the Region VI Final Four while the loser will see their season end.