CSC Softball Drops Home Openers

CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State gave up big innings late in both games of the doubleheader, falling 11-0 in five innings and 10-2 in the first two of a four-game series with UCCS on Saturday. 

UCCS (10-9, 4-6 RMAC) put together patient, solid at-bats and worked the pitch counts of both CSC starters. Belle Akins had to throw 12 pitches to the first batter and 41 pitches in the first inning for the Eagles (2-17, 2-8 RMAC) and only lasted three innings.

In the second game, Brynn Trujillo held the Mountain Lions to just one earned run through five innings as the teams were tied 2-2 after five frames. But Trujillo threw 139 pitches and faded late as UCCS scored two in the sixth and six in the seventh to pull away from a once-close game. 

The Eagles also committed 11 errors over the course of the doubleheader, six in game one and five in game two. That meant only 10 of the 21 runs scored against CSC pitching on Saturday were earned. 

Offensively, CSC recorded seven hits on the day with just two going for extra bases, as Brogan Allen hit a double in game one while Tiffani Mein smacked a double off the center-field wall in game two. 

UCCS, who entered Saturday leading the RMAC in batting average, lived up to that contact-hitting reputation. In game one, the Mountain Lions had 13 hits, but no extra-base hits, to score their 11 runs. UCCS plated three runs in the first inning, two in the third, one in the fourth and five in the fifth inning. 

Chadron State could not solve game one starter Autumn Kunze, who pitched all five innings and held the Eagles to three hits while walking just one and striking out seven. 

In the second game, the two teams combined for four first inning runs on just one combined hit. UCCS scored twice without a hit, using a walk, hit by pitch, double steal and ground ball to plate two runs. 

Chadron State answered for two runs in the bottom of the first. Charley Pitrat led off with a four-pitch walk before Katelynn Czerpak bunted her over to second. Elizabeth Thorngren singled to right-center field, and while Pitrat initially stopped at third, UCCS's throw home was wild and caromed up the line, allowing Pitrat to score and Thorngren to speed all the way around to third base. Brianna Cordray would drive home Thorngren with an RBI groundout. 

The two offenses could not score after that for four innings as Trujillo and UCCS starter Kailey Bond traded zeroes. Trujillo retired UCCS in order in the third and fourth innings, then stranded runners on second and third by striking out Mackenzie Scott looking to end the fifth. 

The Mountain Lions broke through with a key two-run double in the sixth to take the lead and then added on in the seventh as Trujillo ran out of gas and multiple ill-timed errors extended the inning. 

Chadron State and UCCS will resume their four-game series with a doubleheader beginning Sunday morning at 11 a.m.