Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Grand Canyon
Cats outduel Grand Canyon, slam UVU
2/9/2014 5:42:00 AM | Softball
ST. GEORGE, Utah -- The Weber State softball team (3-2) swept its two games on the third and final day of the Red Desert Classic, beating Grand Canyon Saturday morning, 5-2, and Utah Valley Saturday night, 8-0.
“It was a great bounce-back day,” head coach Mary Kay Amicone said. “It shows the character of our team. We'll keep getting better. We just need to keep focusing on the process.”
After struggling offensively on day two of the tournament, the Wildcat bats woke up Saturday. Catcher Mylee Davis started things off in the first inning of game one against Grand Canyon with a two-run double to put the Cats on top early.
A couple of costly Weber State mistakes in the fifth inning allowed GCU to tie it up at two, but the Cats wasted little time getting back on top. Jasmine Ioane hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Davis followed Ioane with a solo shot in the next at bat.
Ioane then relieved starting pitcher Kylee Colvin to close the game down and pick up the win (1-0). Colvin only gave up one earned run on five hits through 5.1 innings.
In game two, junior pitcher MaCauley Flint shut down in-state foe Utah Valley, throwing a complete game shutout while allowing only four hits and striking out 11.
With nine strikeouts in Friday's game against Texas-Arlington and one in Thursday's save against BYU, Flint ended the tournament with 21 total strikeouts. She didn't give up an earned run in the tournament either, pitching 15.1 innings with a 0.00 ERA over the course of the week.
Flint had a no-hitter going through four innings, when she got some run support. The Wildcats had left five runners on base through the first three innings before Krystin Kubo hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the fourth inning to start the scoring. Amicone inserted Kubo to pinch hit for Jazmine Thompson with the bases loaded and nobody out in the inning when Kubo launched the grand slam to straight away centerfield.
“I'm really encouraged with the depth of our lineup,” Amicone said. “(Kubo) was ready for her opportunity and she wasn't the only one. Everybody was ready to step up when we needed them to. (Kubo's grand slam) was a huge momentum swing for us.”
Centerfielder Malia Campos later scored on a wild pitch in the inning and the route was on. The Wildcats added three more runs over the next three innings while Flint continued to take care of business in the circle.
“(Flint) kept their hitters off-balance,” Amicone said. “She really threw a great game and located really well. It was a dominant performance today.”
The Wildcats finished the tournament 3-2 after sweeping the final day and beating BYU on Thursday. They will play in the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, next weekend where they will play Iowa State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northern Colorado and Texas Tech twice.
