RBC I After four days and more than a thousand miles traveled, the Lady Spartans softball team is back on campus. It was a long travel weekend, but worth the drive, having split their games.
The Lady Spartans were .500 on the weekend.
The Spartans opened up game one against the Busters of Garden City (Kan.) Community College. The Spartans had the lead going into the final minutes of the game and gave up the win in the final seconds. Losing 6-5 was not a good experience.
The Spartans had a triple-header and knew they needed to bounce back in order to survive the rest of the day. And bounce back they did.
In game two, the Spartans came out breathing fire and defeated the Lady Rattlers of Otero Junior College.
Kylee Blau sparked the Spartans in the top of the fourth inning with a lead-off home run. This was followed up by base hits by Mackensie Culligan, Kayla Durfey and Courtney David to beat the Rattlers 3-2.
In game three, the Spartans dug deep to beat the hosts of the tournament, Lamar Community College, by a 4-1 margin. Jaisha Webb hit .428, Abigail Thompson hit .400 and Kayla Durfey hit .625 on the first day.
Day two of the tournament the Spartans were humbled by the Trojans of Trinidad State. After losing game one the Spartans, again, bounced back for game two.
Playing Division II team Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Courtney David led off in the top of the second inning with a home run. Going into the top of the fourth with the score knotted 1-1, the Spartans’ bats came alive.
Stringing hit after hit together, the Spartans beat OPSU. 7-2.
After five physically and mentally exhausting games, the Spartans could not pull it together to play their final game against Colby (Kan.) Community College. The Spartans lost to Colby, 5-0.
The team is learning more and more about what it takes to be a college athlete. The Spartans will play their final fall games at home on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. They will play the Twisters traveling ball team from Salt Lake City.
Candra Robie, the Spartans’ assistant softball coach, said, “Please come out this weekend to see all that the Lady Spartans have learned and see the steps they have taken to be successful.”
