RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Hope International softball went 1-1 against La Sierra in a GSAC softball doubleheader on Thursday, winning 7-4 before falling 3-2 in the second game.
Kaitlyn Maaske went the distance in game one and Vivian Little posted a 4-for-5 effort at the plate with three runs scored. Chey Navarro drove in three runs.
The Royals managed just five hits and a pair of unearned runs in game two.
Game 1 – Hope International 7, La Sierra 4
Both teams scored a run in the first inning, with the Royals getting one across on Navarro's sacrifice fly.
HIU took a 3-1 lead in the second on a Karlie Bilbrey RBI single and Sydnee Loyola bases loaded walk, but the Golden Eagles responded with three runs in the bottom half.
The Royals retook a 5-4 lead in the fourth as the first three batters reached safely to load the bases. Gabriela Holmes brought in Little and Dejalei Visesio's sacrifice fly scored Lily Hernandez.
Maaske retired 13 of the final 15 La Sierra batters, and HIU plated a pair of insurance runs in the fifth, courtesy of Navarro's 2-RBI base hit.
Game 2 – La Sierra 3, Hope International 2
Bilbrey and Savannah Henry matched zeroes in the first three innings.
The Royals had runners at the corners in the fourth and Visesio reached first on an error by the Golden Eagle shortstop, allowing McCraw to score an unearned run.Â
Bilbrey allowed just one hit through four innings, but encountered a jam in the fifth when La Sierra tallied three runs.
The rally started with an error and La Sierra scored its first run on a fielder's choice. The Golden Eagles eventually loaded the bases and Lily Mugica's brought home a pair on a single.
HIU managed just a walk and two singles the rest of the way, as Henry posted the win after going 6.0 innings with just four hits and two runs (none earned) allowed. Tori Morton earned the save with a scoreless seventh.
Bilbrey gave up just one earned run in her 6.0 innings of work, but took the hard luck loss to fall to 4-3.
The Royals play another doubleheader on Friday beginning at noon.
