There was drama and fireworks when the Tigers hosted Southwestern Community College on April 9. The Tigers were looking to avenge a pair of losses to the Spartans just a week earlier. And they would do so in big time fashion.
Game 1
Both teams struggled at the plate to open up game one. Ashley Tennant was throwing for the Tigers and going up against Kelsey Tibbs for the Spartans.
Through the first three innings there were no runs scored even though both teams had multiple opportunities with runners in scoring position. It wasn't until the top of the fourth inning when the Spartans got on the board first.
Meghan Gould got the inning started by drawing a walk. Amaya Porch followed it up by earning a walk as well. Tennant then recorded a pair of outs before Ella Rutherford singled to score Gould. Porch tried to score a pitch later as a ball snuck to the backstop, but sophomore catcher, Saydee Terrell, got to the ball quickly and found Tennant covering the plate to throw Porch out and escape the inning with just one run scored.
The Spartans added another run in the fifth inning to build their lead to 2-0. Again, a base running blunder cost them their third out as Nell Skeath gunned down Kaitlyn Schad trying to advance to third after a fly out to center field.
After the Tigers went scoreless again in the fifth the Spartans again scored in the top of the sixth. The inning started off with an error and a stolen base followed up by a single that scored Gould. Lindsay Rader they popped up to Tennant for the first out of the inning. A double and a walk combined with wild pitches put runners on second and third before again the Spartans ran into an out on a passed ball. Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the visitors were feeling comfortable with a 5-0 lead.
But the Tigers showed some life in the home half of the inning. Tennant reached on an error before Nicolette Dabbs blasted a two-run homerun to bring the score to 5-2. The next three batters went down in order to send the game to the seventh inning at 5-2.
Tennant threw a clean seventh a retired the Spartans in order to bring the Tigers back to the plate.
Kaylee Hanks and Saydee Terrel to the inning started with back to back singles. Freshman Aliyah Scott then doubled to score both Hanks and Terrell and bring the Tigers to within one run. Nell Skeath and Tennant then failed to reach base or move Scott over. So Nicolette Dabbs stepped to the plate with two outs and runner on second and the home team down by one. The sophomore took an 0-2 pitch to left field and the throw to the plate was not in time to catch Scott. The score was tied 5-5.
Now tied with a runner on first, Kylie Swan singled and DJ Schmidt walked to load the bases for AnnaMarie Armstrong. The sophomore grounded a 2-2 offering back to the pitcher who tossed it home for the force out to end the inning and the game headed to extra innings.
Tennant again threw a clean inning as the Spartans went down 1-2-3.
The bottom of the eighth Hanks and Terrell ground out for two quick outs. Then Scott singled through the infield. Scott's speed again paid off for the Tigers as she stole second base to move herself into scoring position.
Nell Skeath faced a 2-2 pitch with Scott at second and sent it through the middle of the infield. Scott flew around third and made it home on the single to end the game 6-5 after the Tigers had trailed 5-0 just 30 minutes earlier.
Game 2
Game two again saw the visiting team get out to a lead as they strung together a couple of hits off of McKaylee Dawson and plated two runs in the top of the third.
From there, it was all Tigers. Swan and Dawson scored in the fourth after Swan walked and Dawson was hit by a pitch.
In the fifth, the flood gates opened as the Tigers scored eight runs on eight hits. The inning was highlighted by multi-run shots from Terrell and Ashley Tennant. Tennant also drove in the final run of the game as she singled in Scott for the tenth run of the game.
In game two every Tiger reached base and scored, with the exception of Nicolette Dabbs, to give the Tigers a great team win and some momentum heading into the final month of the season.