Topeka, KS – The University of Sioux Falls softball wrapped up the final day of the Washburn Invitational winning both games on Monday The Cougars won their first game by a score of 7-6 against Fort Hays State and finished the day with a walk off win by a score of 8-7 against Emporia State..
Game One: USF 7, Fort Hays State 6
The Cougars bats were hot early and often, walking away with a 7-6 victory against Fort Hays State.
Reese Holzhueter got the party started with a single to center in the top of the first inning, scoring
Lexie Swift. It was later on in top 1 when
Jayden Haley hit a three-run double scoring
Kylan Straight,
Reese Holzhueter, and Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag.
The 2
nd inning, the bats continued with a single by
Kennedy Thomas, scoring
Lexie Swift, followed by Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag reaching by error scoring
Kylie Madrid, and
Reese Holzhueter reaching on a fielder's choice, scoring
Kennedy Thomas to make the game 7-0 for USF.
Fort Hays answered back with scoring one run in the 3
rd and chipped away getting five runs across the board in the 5
th inning, narrowing the lead to 7-6 for USF. Cress and Thomas for USF combined to stop Fort Hays from capitalizing anymore and held on for the victory in the first game of the day.
Hanna Cress picked up the win pitching 5 1/3 innings, surrendering six hits and three runs on the day.
Kennedy Thomas closed out the game pitching the final 1 2/3 inning and getting USF back in the win column. The Cougars finished the game with six hits, led by
Kennedy Thomas who went 2-4 with an RBI,
Reese Holzhueter finishing with two RBI, and
Jayden Haley going 1-2 with 3 RBI on the day.
Game Two: USF 8, Washburn 7
The Cougars in a back and forth battle to wrap up the Washburn Invitational come away victorious on a walk-off win by a score of 8-7 against Emporia State on Monday afternoon. The Cougars finished the tournament with a 4-2 record and 5-5 overall record on the season.
Emporia State struck early with a solo-shot home run in the top of the 1
st, followed by a single to take an early 2-0 lead. USF answered back in the bottom of the 1
st when
Reese Holzhueter hit a three-run blast, scoring Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag and
Kylie Madrid to take a 3-2 lead. The home runs continued when Emporia State hit a two-run shot in the top of the 2
nd, followed by USF's
Kylie Madrid hitting a solo-shot HR an inning later to even the score at 4-4. Emporia kept the pressure on as they hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 4
th to take the lead. The Cougars quickly answered back with a
Kennedy Thomas RBI single, Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag RBI double, and
Reese Holzhueter getting
Kennedy Thomas across home plate on a fielder's choice to take a 7-5 lead.
Emporia wouldn't go away as they hit a double in the 6
th inning to even the score at seven a piece. However, the Cougars would not be denied as
Emma Spizzirri hit a sharp line drive to center field in the bottom of the 7
th for a walk-off victory for USF, scoring speedster
Kylan Straight and winning the game 8-7 for USF.
The Cougars bats ended the victory with 13 hits on the day with three doubles and two home runs. Another important aspect of USF's runs being scored were the two sacrifice hits by
Taryn Wagner to advance runners and put her teammates in positions to get runs across the board throughout the afternoon.
Lexie Swift,
Kylie Madrid,
Kennedy Thomas, and
Kylan Straight had multiple hits performances and
Reese Holzhueter came away with four RBI on the afternoon. Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag picked up the victory, pitching a complete game for the Cougars and striking out seven ESU hitters and surrendering only one walk.
Up Next
The Cougars are back in action on Friday for the Spring Games Tournament where they'll play ten games over five days. The tournament will host 94 Division II teams and the Cougars will begin the tournament facing off against Kentucky Wesleyan and Holy Family University on Friday afternoon. CLICK HERE to follow the USF schedule of game times, live stats, and video for the week ahead.
