Sports

Ladyjacks get second win, but shut out by Tetons in away series

By Tyler Ohmann

04/30/2013

Finally able to schedule around weather and with snow melted off of some fields the Dakota College at Bottineau Ladyjacks softball team got six games in this past week, and went 1-5.

First the Ladyjacks played a pair of games with North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) last Tuesday in Minot on the turf of the football field.

In game one the Ladyjacks out lasted the Wildcats in a 1-0 pitchers duel.

Jess Audette, a freshman, pitched a no hitter in the win.

“(Game one was a) great game and a huge win for us,” stated Ladyjacks head coach Wayne Johnson. “Jess Audette pitched an awesome game.”

Jess Carson scored the lone run in the bottom of the second inning, advancing home on a wild pitch.
The defense was also solid according to Johnson.

“We had several good defensive plays and played our best all around games of the year in the field,” Johnson stated.

Despite another strong pitching performance game two didn’t go the way of DCB as NDSCS triumphed with a 3-1 victory.

Audette again pitched and again was strong. DCB played well in field apart from the fifth inning, where errors cost the Ladyjacks three runs and the win.

“Really tough loss as I thought we wasted an excellent pitching performance from Jess Audette,” Johnson stated. “We played well defensively again except for one inning and it cost us the game.”

Sherry Chan led the offense with two hits and Danielle Gibson drove in the lone Ladyjacks run in the loss.

DCB rounded out their week with pairs of games at Williston State on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Tetons took care of the Ladyjacks in all four games as DCB couldn’t scratch a run past excellent Tetons pitching. DCB wound up losing 8-0 and 9-0 on Saturday and 8-0 and 10-0 on Sunday.

In Saturday’s first game Audette pitched for DCB again and was strong through three, but ran into trouble in the fourth allowing five runs. Sadie Riendeau and Bethany Colman each had hits in the 8-0 loss.

The DCB offense was again held scoreless in game two, which ended with a  9-0 Tetons win.

Colman took the loss in this one and Jess Howard and Gibson accounted for the only two DCB hits.

“We need to find our hitting shoes. We have had four games in a row where we have not hit the ball well,” Johnson stated. “We have only scored two runs in that stretch.”

The DCB bats did not improve in Sunday’s doubleheader with the Tetons.

In fact in game one’s 8-0 loss the Ladyjacks went hit less against Tetons pitcher Meggie Reitz.

“We really didn’t touch Reitz as she pretty much dominated with her no hitter,” Johnson stated. “We struck out seven times and didn’t really get much good contact.”

DCB was again bested in game two 10-0 in five innings as the Tetons scored eight times in the bottom of the second.

The Ladyjacks did manage five hits in the contest.

“We made better contact in this game with five hits but only once reached scoring position. We have had problems in the last couple of weeks putting hits together with runners in scoring position,” Johnson stated. “We need to get that changed with a big week of softball coming up.”

Colman rapped a pair of hits, while Gibson, Dariann Freer and Carson each had one hit in the loss.

The Ladyjacks dropped to 2-12 overall on the season after the 1-5 week.

They will be busy again this week with a pair of games against Bismarck State on Wednesday, and four games against NDSCS over the weekend.

DCB needs to win three of four games against the Wildcats to advance to regions that are on May 9-10.