Softball Drops 2 at NCTC

GAINESVILLE, Texas – The Seward County softball squad dropped two games at North Central Texas College on Friday afternoon at Darwin Field.

Seward (4-2) suffered its first two losses of the season, falling 6-2 in game one and 5-2 in game two. NCTC moved to 2-2 with the sweep.

The Saints return to action on Saturday, traveling to Tishomingo, Okla., to play at No. 1-ranked Division 2 foe Murray State College. The doubleheader kicks off at noon.

Seward did not get on the board until the seventh inning in game one as Kate Perez and Mya Van Der Mey drove in runs. NCTC brought a run home in the first and three in the second to jump ahead 4-0 early. The Saints blanked them over the next three innings but the Lady Lions used a two-spot in the sixth to lead 6-0 entering the seventh.

Grace Horne (L, 2-1) was tagged with the loss for Seward as she started and threw 4.0 innings. Horne allowed four runs on 10 hits, walking four with no strikeouts. Aaliyah Arredondo threw the final 2.0 allowing two runs on four hits with three walks and no strikeouts.

Seward mustered just four hits in the game being outhit 14-4.

Game two saw Seward strike first with a run in the top of the fourth as Ella Doxey used a sacrifice fly to score Jahlisa Klear. The Lions answered with two runs, one off a triple and one from a Seward error to go ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. The Saints tied it in the top of the fifth as Klear hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop to score Kate Perez.

Seward held NCTC off in the fifth, but the Lions broke through with three sixth-inning runs to go ahead 5-2. Seward went three up-three down in the top of the seventh.

Liberty Sharman (L, 1-1) took the loss for Seward throwing all 6.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Klear and Emily Lane had multi-hit games for Seward with Klear finishing 3-4.

The Saints had six errors in the game two loss.

Stranded baserunners were a theme as Seward stranded nine in both games.