Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Montana
Wildcats sweep doubleheader from Montana
5/2/2015 3:09:00 AM | Softball
OGDEN, Utah – When the Wildcats are zoned in defensively, everything else takes care of itself.
The Weber State University softball team allowed just one unearned run on its way to a doubleheader sweep of Montana on Friday afternoon at Wildcat Softball Field.
The Purple and White topped the Grizzlies 2-1 in the opening game, riding a four-hit, six-strikeout performance from senior right-hander MaCauley Flint to the win, and then turned on the jets on the back end, rolling to a 7-0 victory.
Junior third baseman Alyson Kulp was 4-for-6 with five runs scored, and junior shortstop Aubrey Whitmer went 3-for-6 as the Wildcats improved to 12-6 in Big Sky Conference play and 34-17 overall.
“We've been really dialed in on defense because that's what saves games,” Kulp said. “We need to keep playing Wildcat softball in the games coming up because that is what will keep us strong.”
Kulp earlier this season became the first Weber State player to record 60 hits in a single season, with Whitmer and sophomore right fielder Sara Hingsberger each moving past that line. The Orange, Calif., native now needs just one more hit to for her 70th hit of the season.
Flint, who is already Weber State's career strikeout leader with 254, earned the complete-game win in the first contest, giving her 20 career wins in the circle, which is a new-era record for pitching wins for the Purple and White.
Weber State took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opening game when Kulp scored on freshman Molly Horne's sacrifice fly to center field.
The lead would stand until the top of the sixth, when Montana's leadoff batter reached and advanced to second on a throwing error, before scoring on a two-out double to left field.
Kulp led off the sixth with a double to left field on an 0-2 pitch, with Horne again bringing Kulp across the plate when she singled on a 2-2 pitch to make it 2-1, with Flint putting the Grizzlies down in order in the seventh to end the game.
The Wildcats started off game two in similar fashion, with Kulp reaching on a walk before scoring on a passed ball during Horne's at-bat to make it 1-0.
Weber State, however, wouldn't let Montana hang around this time.
Kulp led off the third inning with a single before Aubrey Whitmer blasted a two-run long ball over the fence at left center to make it 3-0. Horne walked on a full-count in the next at-bat, with Hingsberger blasting her own two-run shot over the fence at left center to make it 5-0.
Senior center fielder Malia Campos hit an RBI single to left field in the fourth that scored Sierra Whitmer to make it 6-0, and then Kulp smacked her 19th double of the year to center field, scoring on an RBI single from Aubrey Whitmer, to make it 7-0, before freshman right-hander Kirtlyn Bohling closed off her first career complete-game shutout in the seventh, picking up her ninth win of the season in the circle.
Weber State will wrap up its 52-game regular season, and its three-game Big Sky Conference series with Montana, on Saturday at Noon. The Wildcats will honor their eight seniors, Morgan Allaband, Mylee Brown, Malia Campos, Cydnee Clarke, Janel Cunningham, MaCauley Flint, Kylee Hogue, and Stephanie Mathias prior to the game.
The Wildcats sweep, along with Southern Utah's two wins against Northern Colorado, mean that Weber State will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in next week's Big Sky Conference tournament in Pocatello, Idaho. The Wildcats will face Sacramento State in Thursday's opening round at Idaho State's Miller Ranch Stadium, with times still TBD.
