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Box Score 2
Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University softball team gave the defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference Champions, the Saint Martin's Saints, all they could handle on Sunday afternoon but dropped both ends of their doubleheader, losing the first game 9-6 and the second 5-2.
The Clan were leading until the sixth in the first game and trailing by just one until the seventh in the second game.
Jessica Fortier (Three Hills, AB) went the distance for the Clan in the opener, pitching seven innings while giving up nine hits and nine runs.
Fortier had given up just three hits and three runs until the Saints caught up with her for six runs on five hits and an error in the seventh which proved to be the difference in the game.
The Saints jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second but SFU countered in their half of the second when
Robyn Mogavero (Whitby, ON) hit a two run home run, her first round tripper of her collegiate career, to pull the Clan within one.
In the fourth, trailing by one, the Clan loaded the bases with nobody out to start the inning before a Mogavero walked tied the game at 3-3.
The Clan kept advancing runners as
Danielle Raison (Langley, BC) singled to cash in the go ahead run and
Kaitlyn Cameron (Langley, BC) hit a sacrifice fly to right to score
Lorissa Thompson (Surrey, BC).
Mogavero would score the fourth and final run of the inning when
Nicole Ratel (Langley, BC) grounded out to second, giving SFU a 6-3 lead.
The three run lead would hold up for SFU through the fifth inning which was scoreless before the Saints tagged the Clan for six in their half of the sixth.
Mogavero finished the game three for three with three runs batted in and two scored.
"I think I've goota go buy some bullet proof cleats for our players because we seem to find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot every game," said Head Coach
Mike Renney. "The first game, the wheels just came off in one inning where we made several errors against the team that won the conference, that's projected to win the conference again and they took advantage of it with a six spot in a game where we had worked hard and earned the lead. Other than that one inning, we competed the entire game."
The Clan received a complete game again from their pitcher in game two as
Jessica Goulet (Cambridge, ON) went seven innings, scattering 11 hits and allowing five runs.
Raison and
Rachel Proctor (Surrey, BC) had multi-hit games for the Clan in game two with Raison going two for three and Proctor going two for two.
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth the Clan got on the board when
Alexis Johnston (Abbotsford, BC) came around to score from second on Proctor's double. Johnston entered the game as a pinch runner for Ratel who led off the inning with a double.
After SMU went ahead 3-1 in the fifth the Clan once again pulled within one in their half of the fifth when
Kendra Goodman (Surrey, BC) scored on a double by Proctor.
Behind by just one, the Clan had the top of the order due up in the seventh but in the top half of the inning, SMU turned their one run lead into a three run lead with a two run, two out, home run from Taviah Jenkins that sealed the win.
"Coming out of game one I was concerned we might roll over in the second game. We had a slow start. I don't think we were ready for the second game and I think our pitchers and catchers might not have come in on the same page. To their credit, they got on the same page and we had a masterful middle part of that game. It was the kind of performance they know they're capable of and they just haven't been consistently showing. We put some runs on the board in both games which was good to see and it came down to situations where we needed the play and we didn't get it," continued Renney.
The Clan will travel to Nampa, ID next weekend for a pair of doubleheaders against the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders.
"I was really pleased with our compete. Having said that, we're not where we need to be yet and we're not where we wanna be but I'm confident in this group of athletes," finished Renney.
