SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity University softball team finished off an undefeated weekend by sweeping Bethel University (MN) with a pair of 3-2 victories on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers (14-5-1) led the entire first game and held off the Royals (3-13) for the opening win, then Trinity rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to take the second game and finish off the sweep. Trinity piled up 16 hits and committed just one error across the doubleheader.
Josephine Koelewyn (Reno, Nev. / Academy of Arts Careers and Technology) earned the win in both games and improved to 10-2 this season. She allowed just two runs on five hits over 5.0 innings to start game one, then
Megan Kriechbaum (Cedar Hills, Utah / Pleasant Grove) finished the final 2.0 innings of the game to earn her first save of the season. Both Tiger pitchers recorded three strikeouts in game one. Kriechbaum started game two, allowing two runs on three hits over 4.1 innings and recording six more strikeouts. Koelewyn came in for the final 2.2 innings, allowing no runs on just one hit to pick up the victory.
Hannah Boudreaux (Pearland, Texas / Shadow Creek) and
Hayden Del Toro (Cypress, Texas / Cy Woods) both went 2-for-3 in the opening game and Boudreaux also added one run and one RBI.
Carsyn Lee (Flower Mound, Texas / Flower Mound) and
Hannah Flores (San Antonio, Texas / Taft) also drove in runs in the first game, while
Angela Baltzell (Antioch, Calif. / Freedom) and
Samantha Melendez (Pasco, Washington / Chiawana) also scored runs. Baltzell was the only Tiger with multiple hits in the second game, going 2-for-3 in the finale.
Samantha Tagawa (Agoura Hills, Calif. / Agoura) was 1-for-2 with one run and one RBI.
The Rundown
After a 1-2-3 inning to start game one for Koelewyn, Boudreaux drew a leadoff walk to get the offense off on the right foot.
Ella Whitacre (Roanoke, Texas / Byron Nelson) dropped down a sac bunt to move the runner up, then Boudreaux scored on an RBI single by Flores to make it 1-0 Tigers. Neither team had much offense until the bottom of the third when Boudreaux came up again and delivered a leadoff single. Melendez came in as a pinch-runner and promptly stole second to get into scoring position. Two batters later, Lee singled to left to drive in Melendez and give Koelewyn a 2-0 lead. That proved to be critical as Bethel tripled to lead off the fourth and came in on a sac fly to make it a 2-1 game. Koelewyn struck out the final two batters to keep Trinity in front.
Boudreaux was once again involved in the scoring in the Tiger half of the fourth, driving in Baltzell who reached on an error with one out in the inning. Trinity left the bases loaded, though, and settled for just a 3-1 lead after four innings. The Royals touched up Koelewyn for back-to-back hits to start the sixth, chasing the Tiger starter from the game and cutting the lead back to one run at 3-2. Kriechbaum got a pair of strikeouts and a groundout, though, keeping Trinity in the lead. The Tigers went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, but so did Bethel as Kriechbaum finished off the win.
Kriechbaum struck out the side to open game two but neither team threatened in the first two innings. Bethel broke up the shutout in the third with a walk and a run-scoring double to take its first lead of the day at 1-0. Baltzell and Boudreaux had consecutive one-out hits in the bottom of the third, but the Royals got the next two hitters out and retained the lead. An error by the visitors led to Trinity's first run in the bottom of the fourth. Koelewyn singled after Tagawa reached on an error, then after Bethel got the second out of the inning, Del Toro delivered an RBI single up the middle to tie the game 1-1. Trinity loaded the bases after that but had to settle for just the one run.
Bethel answered quickly in the top of the fifth, drawing a leadoff walk and advancing to third on a wild pitch and a sac bunt. Koelewyn came in from there and a Tiger error allowed the go-ahead run to score. Bethel kept the pressure up and a two-out double to left looked like it could lead to a bigger lead, but Del Toro threw the lead runner out at third to end the inning with the score 2-1. Trinity strung together a couple of hits to go along with two errors by the Royals and took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Lee got the Tigers going with a one-out single, then the first error put runners on the corners. Tagawa executed the squeeze play on the next pitch and tied the game 2-2. After a flyout, Whitacre laid down a bunt single that would have loaded the bases, but an errant throw led to another run that put the Tigers in front 3-2. Bethel had just one baserunner over the final two innings and Koelewyn sealed the win by getting a pop fly to the infield and two easy ground outs in the seventh.
Up Next
Trinity will remain at home and open up Southern Athletic Association play next weekend by hosting Rhodes College (TN) in a three-game series. The series begins with a Saturday doubleheader at 1:00 p.m., followed by Sunday's finale that is set to start at 11:00 a.m.
