The softball team rebounded from five consecutive road losses with a 6-0 shutout victory against visiting Siena on Wednesday night at Dail Stadium. The Wolfpack matched its highest run total of the season. The Pack notched its first shutout while committing no errors for just the second time this season.
Senior pitcher Mendy Mckenzie said she was proud of the Packís overall team effort.
“We had great defense and our bats were going,” Mckenzie said. “So it was a full team effort, that’s for sure.”
Coach Lisa Navas agreed a balanced effort was just what the team needed after a tough trip to California.
“We tried to leave that in California, so it was nice to come home and put some things together,” Navas said. “It was just a balanced attack and that’s what we plan on going after.”
The offensive onslaught started early when the team jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a three run blast by sophomore third baseman Bridget Desbois. Desbois said after the game that her home run let Siena know what they were up against right away.
“Siena, they knew that it was gone after that [home run],” Debois said. “They knew that [the game] was done for them.”
Thanks to Mckenzie’s dominance on the mound, the Pack’s six runs on seven hits were more than enough for the win. Mckenzie stifled Sienaís batters from start to finish, striking out ten batters while giving up just one hit and two walks in seven innings. Coach Lisa Navas talked after the game about Mckenzie’s hard work paying off and about what her performance meant to her team.
“She did a good job, she pitched well last weekend and it paid off for her tonight,” Navas said. “It works out well when the pitcher is not giving up a bunch of hits, because we’re able to shut some things down.”
The Wolfpack took advantage of an error, a wild pitch, and three base hits and added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior outfielder Lauren Peters reached first on an error to load the bases after freshman outfielder Hannah Ojeda – who was three for three on the night with a run scored – and freshman second baseman Landon Warren both hit singles. Ojeda then scored on a wild pitch before sophomore infielder Alyssa Ishibashi’s line drive single to left drove in Peters and Warren to finish the scoring.
Yet another thing that went right for the Pack was its defense, which had struggled prior to Wednesday’s game. The team made no fielding errors against Siena, and according to Desbois, this was a result of a concerted effort the team devoted to defense during Tuesday’s practice.”
“Yesterday in practice we really stepped it up and we realized what we have to do,” Desbois said. “We knew defensively this is what we were having trouble with in California.”
According to Navas, the way her team played in front of a home crowd was encouraging and will be important as it goes forward this season, especially with this weekend’s upcoming Wolfpack Challenge. The six-team tournament will take place at Curtis & Jacqueline Dail Softball Stadium this weekend, Feb. 27 – March 1.
“You never want to lose a game at home, [especially because] we had a great crowd tonight,” Navas said. “We did what we needed to [tonight] and we are looking forward to our tournament.”
