After an early lead and strong defense, the Seattle University softball team was able to earn a 6-4 victory over new conference rival Portland State in their morning game of the Husky Softball Classic. With the win, the Redhawks earned their second win of the season. In their final game of the tournament, SU squared off with classic-host in No. 1 University of Washington. Despite battling hard with the top-ranked Huskies, SU fell 8-3. The Redhawks close out the tournament with a 1-3 record and a 2-17 overall record.
"It was great to have our offense and bats going versus Portland State," said head coach Dan Powers. "We had contributions throughout the lineup and it is great to be able to put together a solid victory over our new conference rival in PSU. It also shows us we can compete with teams in our conference."
The Redhawk offense was in full force on Sunday at Husky Softball Stadium. They tallied 17 total hits on the day, including 10 against the Huskies. For SU, Katie Antich led the offense with three hits, two runs and an RBI on the day. Kate Zender also tallied three hits, and had a run and an RBI. Allegra Wilde was the team's RBI leader with three, on a hit and a run.
Versus Portland State • W 6-4
The Redhawks early lead came off a fielder's choice at bat from catcher Jessica Amador. She made solid contact to shortstop and sent home Katie Antich to establish the SeattleU 1-0 lead. Portland State evened the score at one-all behind a Brandi Scoggins RBI single up the left line.
Both squads were kept scoreless for the following four innings. Starting pitcher Hannah Klein had a solid performance on the mound. Despite only throwing one strikeout in 6.1 innings pitched, she kept PSU off the board again until the bottom of the sixth. With the victory, Klein earned her first win of the season.
In the top half of the sixth inning, freshman Allegra Wilde came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. After walking in the second and flying out in the fifth, the Redhawk third baseman slammed a hit to the warning track in center field to clear the bases. The two-bagger was her first career double and gave SeattleU a 4-1 lead.
The solid offensive inning did not conclude with Wilde's bases clearing double, as Antich followed with an RBI triple to right center to send Wilde home and added a fourth run scored in the inning. The next batter Rose Harrington sent her contact directly Viking center fielder Danielle Lynn. Lynn was unable to cleanly catch the ball and dropped it to send Harrington to first on an error. Antich also scored an unearned run to close the top Redhawk inning this year with a 6-1 lead.
In the top of the seventh the Redhawks had the bases loaded with one out. Katie Gould came to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to left center. Jessica Ulrich, who was posted on third base, tagged up but was caught out at home to prevent SeattleU from being able capitalize on their second straight bases loaded inning.
In the bottom half of the inning, Klein quickly got the first batter out, but ended up giving up a double to center field to the following hitter. The third batter of the inning DeChauna Skinner hit the ball to center field. SU's Gould made a diving catch which appeared to be the second out of the inning, but the umpire called it a hit and that resulted in a run scored for the Vikings. A frustrated SeattleU squad could not shake off the call immediately and gave up an RBI single to pitch hitter Sadie Lopez in the next PSU at bat.
Despite allowing the Vikings to come within two runs, the Redhawks brought in senior Kelsey Reynolds to get out of the inning. The veteran pitcher earned her first save of the season and the first save for SU on the year.
Against No. 1 Washington • L 8-3
In their fourth meeting in a week with the No. 1 University of Washington, the Redhawks could not carry their early offensive momentum over to their afternoon contest. In the final game of the Husky Softball Classic, SU fell 8-3 to Washington in seven innings.
SeattleU gave up an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but remained poised and worked to battle back. After both squads stayed off the board in the second inning, the Redhawks broke onto it with a run to cut UW's lead to 2-1. Kate Zender led off the inning with a single to left center and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Katie Antich. Rose Harrington followed with a single to center, to send Zender to the corner and Megan MacIssac brought her home with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The game was not close for long, as Washington added four runs in the bottom half of the third, but a continually battling Redhawk lineup scored a second run the following inning. With a runner on second, Zender came to the plate. She singled to right center to send home Theresa Clark, but the SeattleU offense was unable to add additional runs in the inning.
Despite closing in slightly on the Husky lead in the top half of the fourth, UW added two additional runs to take an 8-2 advantage over the Redhawks.
In their last run producing inning, Clark hit her second long ball of the season. She slammed her home run over the left field fence, but like their prior two scoring innings, the Redhawks were not able to create more offensive momentum.
The Redhawks will enjoy a week off before picking back up on Thursday, Mar. 25, at Oregon. They will play a pair of games, beginning at 3 p.m. in Eugene, Ore.