Bats come alive as BU sweeps in San Antonio

Tournament Website
UHV Box Score
OLLU Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The Bellevue University softball team exploded for 23 hits on the day as the Bruins swept a pair of games at the OLLU Nationwide Tourney, downing the University of Houston-Victoria, 15-7, in the opener and host Our Lady of the Lake, 4-1, in the nightcap. 

With the two wins, the Bruins improved to 3-1 on the season.  

Bellevue will conclude the tournament on Sunday with a 9 a.m. contest against Ottawa (Ariz.) and an 11:15 a.m. matchup with Our Lady of the Lake. 

Bellevue 15, Houston-Victoria 7 (6 innings)

The Bruins pounded out 15 hits and took advantage of six UHV fielding errors en route to the 15-7 win (in six innings) in the opener. The victory avenged Friday's 8-2 loss to the Jaguars in BU's season opener. 

Eight BU players recorded at least one hit in the victory with Katlyn Kinman and Maricela Egan both producing three hits. Kinman drove in two runs including a home run. Egan drove in three runs. Freshman Lauren Russell launched a grand slam for her first career home run. Ashley Young, Madison Machacek, and Kelsey Arnold each had two hits in the win. 

A two-run single up the middle by Egan, a run-scoring double to center by Emily Rochford, and an RBI single to left field by Arnold gave the Bruins an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning as BU took advantage of three Jaguar fielding errors in the opening frame. 

UHV responded in the bottom of the first with an RBI double to deep center field by Kaylie Lopez to cut the deficit to 4-1. Savannah Gunn got out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out Brianna Leon to keep the score at 4-1 after one inning of play. 

An RBI single to left field by Young and a Jaguar fielding error led to two more BU runs in the top of the second, extending the Bruin advantage to 6-1.  

Once again, Gunn got out of a bases-loaded jam with a force out and a strikeout to keep the score at 6-1 after three complete innings. 

Kinman led off the fourth inning with a solo shot over the centerfield fence to stretch the BU lead to 7-1.  

The Jaguars cut the lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring four runs on a two-run single to right field by Lopez, a sacrifice bunt by Ashley Reyna, and a run-scoring single to center field by Zoe Miranda.  

The Bruins added four runs in the top of the fifth highlighted by RBI singles from Kinman and Egan to push the BU advantage to 11-5. 

A grand slam by Russell increased the BU cushion to 15-5 in the top of the sixth. 

The Jaguars scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the final, 15-7. 

Cory Carillo, who replaced Gunn in the fourth inning, picked up her second win of the season. She did not allow a hit while striking out two Jaguars with one walk in 2.2 innings of relief pitching.   

Bellevue 4, Our Lady of the Lake 1

Seven Bruins produced hits and BU was also aided by the solid pitching effort of Lauren Jurek on their way to the 4-1 victory over Our Lady of the Lake. BU also defeated the Saints on Friday, 6-5.  

The Bruins got off to a quick start, scoring three runs in the top of the first on a two-run double to center by Russell and on an RBI double to left-center field by Amanda Placzek. 

An RBI single to right field by Kennah Kennedy cut the BU lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second. 

Ellie Bliemeister's run-scoring double to right field increased the Bruin advantage to 4-1 in the top of the third frame. 

Neither team threatened the remainder of the contest. 

Jurek (1-1) got her first win of the season, allowing just three hits and one walk with four strikeouts in six innings of work.