Softball Earns Non-Conference Split at St. Catherine's

The Buena Vista softball team was in action for the third straight day on Monday afternoon, and after dropping a tough 3-2 decision in the opener to St. Catherine’s, the Beavers responded with a narrow 6-5 triumph in the finale.

The Wildcats (9-9) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opener with a pair of runs in the third inning.  Sam Engleman cut the deficit in half with her second home run of the season in the fourth.  Senior Aphton Roberts then tied things up with a big two out RBI single in the fifth.

St. Catherine’s, however, picked up a key two-out unearned run in the seventh on an RBI single to win by one.

Engleman and Stephanie Hayden each recorded a hit and scored a run, as BVU tallied just five hits overall.

Senior Chancey Wilcke went the distance on the mound and suffered just her third loss of the year.  She allowed just one earned run on nine hits, while striking out two and registering 12 groundouts.

Sam Knudsen, who was making just her second start of the year, recorded a pair of hits in three at-bats in game two, including an RBI single in the second which gave the Beavers their first lead of the afternoon. 

She was right back in the thick of the scoring in the fourth when she doubled with one out to put runners at second and third.  Jordon Pilcher then reached on a fielder’s choice which scored both runners and push the lead to 3-0.  Pilcher, and Les Turnquist, who also reached on a fielder’s choice, then scored when Roberts reached on an error to make it 5-0.

The Wildcats, however, weren’t about to go away, plating four runs of their own in the fifth on five hits to pull within one at 5-4. 

BVU then got a key insurance run in the sixth when Pilcher walked and stole second to lead off the inning before coming all the way around to score on a bunt single one batter later by Berkey.

That run proved to be big, as St. Catherine’s got a one-out RBI triple in the seventh before stranding that runner at third to end the game.

Jami Webster pitched 4.2 innings and picked up the win for BVU, while Wilcke posted her second save in as many days.

Buena Vista improves to 10-6 overall and will wrap-up its eight games in four days stretch when it plays a non-conference doubleheader at Nebraska Wesleyan on Tuesday evening.  Game on is scheduled to begin at 5:00pm.

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