SPEARFISH, S.D. – Although it was not the results wanted to wrap up the beautiful weekend in Spearfish, the Black Hills State University softball team (12-27, 11-23 RMAC) broke the program’s single-season record for doubles in a season with their 57th of the season. However, it would be the visiting Skyhawks of Fort Lewis College (14-27, 12-20 RMAC) who would complete the four-game sweep with 4-3 and 11-1 (F/5) victories at Yellow Jacket Field.
GAME 3: FLC 4, BHSU 3
PITCHING DECISIONS:
Win: Aimee Shanks (7-14)
Loss: Laci Peskey (5-12)
The Yellow Jackets battled in another low scoring contest to start the second beautiful day of the weekend at Yellow Jacket Field. Freshman Laci Peskey (Fr., Waller, Texas) pitched her 12th complete game of the season, scattering just 10 hits and allowing four runs (three earned).
A solo home run for the red-hot Fort Lewis second baseman Kayla Stone would give the Skyhawks the early 1-0 lead in the second inning. The following inning, Audrey Fouras (So., Jackson, Wyo.) would get in on the long ball action with a missile down the right field line to knot things up at 1-1.
Up until the sixth inning, both starters settled in as the lone long balls for each team proved to be the only scoring. At one point, both teams were dead even in the middle innings with one run each and both sides having five hits.
In the sixth, however, the Skyhawks would break through again. Beginning with Stone’s second home run of the day, it would give Fort Lewis the 2-1 lead. They would strike a few more hits together in the frame and push across what they thought would be an insurance run, making it 3-1.
But it would be the scrappy Yellow Jacket ‘no quit’ attitude that BHSU fans have come to love about this team, as they would respond with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the sixth to, once again, pull even at 3-3. Ashlynn Pauwels (Jr., Tallahassee, Fla.) would tie the single-season program record with her 12th double of the season to score Kayla Lee (Sr., Kearney, Neb.) from first. Later in the inning, Malia Ogee (So., Anchorage, Alaska) put the ball in play and put pressure on the Skyhawk defense and an error would allow the tying run to come in to score.
In the seventh, the Skyhawk lead-off hitter would reach and, after a sacrifice bunt, would be driven in by the bat of, who else for the Skyhawks but Stone, with her RBI single up the middle. Black Hills State would put the tying run on second and the winning run on first, but would not be able to push a run across in the bottom half, as Fort Lewis took Game 3 – and the series win – with the 4-3 victory in Game 3.
GAME 4: FLC 11, BHSU 1 (F/5)
PITCHING DECISIONS:
Win: Hailie Mann (7-13)
Loss: Shayla Tuschen (5-11)
The series finale proved to go the way of the Skyhawks as it proved to just be a game that nearly every ball put in play found a spot to fall, despite the best efforts fromt Yellow Jacket offense. Scoring a run in each of the first two innings, the Skyhawks led 2-0. They would use a nine-run third inning on nine hits (no errors) to break the game open.
The silver lining for Black Hills State, not to mention the beautiful weather Mother Nature gave for the weekend, was a pair of doubles from Lee and Shayla Tuschen (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) would set a new single-season program record for doubles in a season at 57 and counting.
The Yellow Jackets would push across a run in the fifth to avoid being shut out as Fouras would single to center field to drive in Lily Simmons (So., Frederick, Colo.), but Fort Lewis would take the run-rule victory 11-1 in five innings.
Up Next: The Yellow Jackets will welcome top-10 ranked Colorado Christian (41-4, 33-3 RMAC) next weekend to conclude the 2024 home slate with games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 20-21 at Yellow Jacket Field.
