Lady Tigers power past Weableau, 14-9

The offensive surge continued for the Nevada Lady Tiger softball team on Monday, with a 14-9 non-conference road victory over Weableau. Over the past two games, Nevada has plated a combined 31 runs.  

After missing the first seven games of the season, star shortstop Tylin Heathman returned to Nevada's lineup, going 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and three runs scored. Nevada cleanup hitter Claire Pritchett mashed her fifth round-tripper of the season, while also knocking in three runs. 

Also getting in on the hit parade for Nevada, leadoff hitter Bailey Ast concluded with a 4-for-5 performance, while Maleigha Hinton blasted her first homer of the season. Senior starting pitcher Abby Harder aided her own cause, with three hits and a trio of RBI, while catcher Kirstin Buck chipped in a multi-hit performance. 

"I'm really happy with how we performed offensively," said Nevada head coach, Danny Penn. "We put up 14 runs, with a number of good swings. Bailey continues to do a great job getting on base and setting the tone for us. The middle of our lineup did a great job of putting together quality at-bats and driving runners in. Our two-through-five hitters all had at least two hits."

Penn noted that the home runs off the bats of Heathman, Hinton, and Pritchett were all no-doubters. 

"I told Maleigha pre-game that it looked like she was swinging harder and staying compact, and she got all of her's," Penn recounted. "Claire hit another homer to the opposite field, and Tylin did a great job in her first game back of sitting back on a changeup — and hitting it out to dead center. It was nice adding Tylin back, as she definitely lengthens our lineup, and was able to give Claire a little more protection tonight." 

While Penn was elated with the offensive productions, he remains concerned about his club's recent fielding woes. In their previous contest, an 18-17 loss to Harrisonville, the Lady Tigers committed 11 errors — with a few more coming against Weableau.

"For as good as we played offensively, we continue to struggle on the defensive side," Penn said, adding that his squad also afforded the hosts a number of free runners — via three walks, and three hit batters — resulting in "extra outs." 

"We committed two defensive errors, and there were other balls that I'd like to think that we would give a little more effort on if given another chance," he said. "I know that Abby realizes we need to cut down on free passes, and defensively, all of our players know they're capable of making the plays that we haven't been making. We simply have to focus on being fundamentally sound and executing. While it's still somewhat early in the season, we need to see some improvement in that area quickly." 

In the circle, Harder went the distance — allowing five earned runs, while striking out six, and walking three over seven frames of work.

The Lady Tigers returned to the diamond for Tuesday's Big 8 Conference cross-division home-clash with Logan-Rogersville.

Nevada's bats were stymied by Logan-Rogersville ace Halle Miles. Miles tossed five innings of shutout ball, and carried an 8-0 lead into the sixth. The Lady Tigers then broke through for a pair of runs, as base-hits by Ast, Hinton, Harder, plus an RBI-sacrifice fly-out by Heathman trimmed the deficit to six runs.

Logan-Rogersville tacked on a run in the seventh, accounting for the final 9-2 margin. Back in the circle, Harder went the full seven frames, and was saddled with the loss.

Tuesday's defeat moves Nevada to 5-4 overall, while the visitors upped their record to 13-4.

Up Next

Nevada hosts Monett Sept. 22. First pitch for the Big 8 Conference West division matchup is slated for 4:30 p.m. from Bushwhacker Field.