Sports

Ladyjacks take six against BSC, LRSC

By Matthew Semisch

04/29/2014

The Dakota College at Bottineau softball team’s bats stayed hot last week, with the Ladyjacks picking up five wins from six games against Bismarck State on the road and Lake Region State at home.

Fresh off a doubleheader sweep April 15 in which DCB pounded the North Dakota State College of Science 19-0 and 18-2 in Wahpeton, the Ladyjacks kept the ball rolling last week in six games over five days.

DCB has been streaky so far this season, but the Ladyjacks have hit a rich vein of form. They started the season 5-1 before losing four in a row, but they’re now 12-6 after winning seven of their last eight games.

Coming off the wins in Wahpeton, DCB won three straight April 18-19 at Bismarck State. The first two wins came on April 18 during the first doubleheader of two, and the Ladyjacks took the first two meetings 6-3 and 10-2.

Wind gusts of 40 miles per hour hindered both teams. DCB handled the conditions best in the first game, however, by climbing out of a two-run first-inning hole to tie things up in the top of the second before taking the lead for good in the third inning after pushing two more across.

Bethany Coleman was on the mound for DCB and was credited with the win despite giving up three unearned runs to the Mystics.

DCB never trailed in Game 2. Two runs in each of the first two innings proved more than enough, and a six-run fifth inning for the Ladyjacks provided further proof of the visitors’ superiority.
The Ladyjack batters were much better in the second game, hammering out 13 hits compared to their six in Game 1.

However, head coach Mike Getzloff wasn’t entirely pleased with what he’d seen.

“Obviously we hit the ball better in the second game and we played a little better defensively,” Getzloff said. “But I didn’t think we had as many good at bats as we should have.

“At one stretch we made six straight outs on just 10 pitches. We showed very little patience at the plate. We left far too many runners on base.”

DCB won again in Game 3, this time by a 6-3 count. Heidi Riley came up huge at the dish for the visitors in this game, going three-for-four with two home runs and four runs batted in.

Riley’s first homer kicked things off for DCB at the start of the game, and a two-run shot from her in the bottom half of the sixth inning put the game to bed.

It wasn’t all good news for DCB in that game, though.

Coleman injured a shoulder in the fourth inning, temporarily leaving the Ladyjacks with one remaining healthy pitcher. The team’s top pitcher, freshman Taylor Glass, had been out for two weeks with a knee injury and isn’t expected to return for at least another week.

Danielle Gibson did well in relief in Game 3, though, picking up the save after throwing three scoreless innings.

“It certainly was nice to pick our third win of the weekend and our fifth in a row, but it was a costly win,” Getzloff said.

“We aren’t sure if Glass will be able to pitch again this year and now with Coleman hurt, our pitching could come down to Gibson in the circle for the first game and Gibson in the circle for the second game.

“Gibbie is a tough kid but with all double headers on our schedule, we need either Glass or Coleman to get healthy in a hurry.”

Five errors in Game 4 led to BSC picking up a 7-3 win despite the Mystics being outhit 11-9 in the series finale. All seven Bismarck runs in that game were unearned, as were all 15 BSC scored in the four-game set.

DCB bounced back well last Tuesday, however, when Lake Region State rolled into Bottineau. High winds were an issue again, but the Ladyjacks overcame a slow start to Game 1 to win that one 10-2 before besting the Royals again in the rematch 14-6.

Third-baseman Kathrin Jetty had a particularly big game, going three-for-three at bat, crossing home plate three times herself and driving in two other runs. DCB’s offense performed well in the game, with Jetty and Paige Hollinger both picking up multiple base hits while three other Ladyjacks also contributed with their bats.

Coleman was back on the mound in that game and struck out five LRSC batters.

The Royals started well and held a 2-0 lead through the first three innings. A four-run fourth inning from DCB finally got the hosts onto the board, though, and the hosts never looked back from there.

“It took us a couple of innings in the first game to really start hitting the ball,” Getzloff said. “From that time on, though, I thought we hit the ball really well, and the great thing is it was up and down our lineup.

“It wasn’t just three or four hitters; everybody was hitting the ball, and I’m pretty happy with that. We hadn’t been hitting the ball very well and we’ve had a few games down in Bismarck where we won three of four games but where I didn’t think we had very good bats, so I’m glad we’ve broken out of that.”

The second game against LRSC, a 14-6 win, started very comfortably for DCB as the Ladyjacks opened up with a four-run first inning and was 6-0 up by the end of the second.

The Royals rallied later on by scoring four runs in the top of the fifth inning to bring the game to 10-6.

A four-run response from DCB in the bottom half of the frame, though, brought the game to its final score.

DCB then traveled to Devils Lake on Thursday for a twin bill on the Royals’ home turf. The Ladyjacks’ bats cooled down in the second leg of the home-and-home, but DCB did enough to pick up a split on the road.

Coleman again hit the mound for DCB in its first game in Devils Lake this season, and she struck out five LRSC batters en route to a 3-1 win.

The Royals limited DCB to only five hits in the first game of the doubleheader. Coleman was the Ladyjacks’ leader at the dish in that game, too, reaching first base three times through two hits and a walk.

DCB’s luck against LRSC finally ran dry in the second game, though, as the hosts went away 1-0 winners in a pitchers’ duel.
Both teams had only three hits in a game in which one run in the Royals’ half of the third inning proved to be the difference.

Gibson pitched a complete game in the teams’ final scheduled meeting of the season. The sophomore struck out four in the losing effort.

DCB was scheduled to play a pair of doubleheaders against Williston State on Friday and Saturday, but both were called off due to reports of inclement weather.

No make-up dates for the four games initially scheduled against Williston have been announced.