FOREST CITY, Iowa -- Sophomore Erin Sharpe took sole possession of the school's single-season home run record and matched the single-season RBI record to lead the No. 25 Bellevue University softball team earned a pair of victories over Waldorf University on Friday evening in NSAA action at Al Buckley Field. Bellevue took game one by a score of 8-3 and earned a 14-5 victory in the second game to earn the sweep.
Bellevue has now won seven-straight games to improve to 43-12 (18-6 NSAA) on the season while Waldorf drops to 15-25 (7-17 NSAA) as they have now lost four-straight.
The Bruins and Warriors wrap up the regular-season tomorrow at 2 p.m. with a double-header.
Game One: Bellevue 8, Waldorf 3
Waldorf took a 3-1 lead into the fifth inning but Bellevue responded by scoring seven runs over the next two innings to earn an 8-3 comeback victory to open the weekend series.
Hannah Carter led off the game with a triple and came in to score on a passed ball for an early 1-0 BU lead.
Waldorf pulled back on terms when Kennedy Vinchattle singled in a run with one out in the bottom of the first.
Two innings later Vinchattle drove in a pair with a double down the left field line to give Waldorf a 3-1 lead. The score remained in favor of the home-standing Warriors until the fifth when the Bruins erupted for three runs.
With two on and just one out, Maddie Siedlik drove a double into the left center game that saw Sydney Robertson and Emily Gigax score to tie the game. Two batters later, Emily Miller delivered a single to left center that allowed Siedlik to come home for a 4-3 BU lead.
Sayde Woten coaxed a one-out walk in the sixth ahead of Gigax who went deep for her third home run of the season. Robertson drove in another run two batters later with a double down the left field line and came in to score herself on Sharpe's single to left with two outs.
Kelli Fisher (W, 26-4) went the distance, allowing just a single earned run – three runs total – on seven hits and a walk while striking out five.
Kaylie Brindley (L, 9-12) took the loss for the Warriors as she threw the entire game allowing eight runs – six earned – on nine hits and five walks. She struck out seven.
Game Two: Bellevue 14, Waldorf 5 (6 Innings)
Erin Sharpe went deep three times, including hitting the go-ahead grand slam in the fourth inning to become the program's single-season home run leader. After falling in an early 4-0 hole, Bellevue battled back to earn a 14-5 six-inning victory.
The Warriors got off to a great start, putting up four runs in the opening frame courtesy of Kennedy Vinchattle and Payge Jurgens RBI-doubles and Trista Bures two-run scoring single.
Bellevue got two runs back in the second with Sayde Woten driving in a run on a fielder's choice and Hannah Carter plating another on an RBI-single.
After Bures worked a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-2 in favor of the host side, Erin Sharpe hit her first home run of the game in the ensuing half inning.
Michaela Miller went deep to pull BU within a run at 5-4 in the fourth. Then, after three-straight batters reached, Sharpe left the yard for the second time to give the Bruins their first lead of the game, 8-5.
Sharpe added her third homer of the night in the sixth as part of a six-run inning to put the game away and give Bellevue the double-header sweep.
Sharpe (W, 9-1) came on in relief in the first inning and tossed 5.2 strong innings with six strikeouts out of the 'pen. She scattered five hits and a pair of walks in limiting Waldorf to just one run while she was in the circle.
McKenna Marcinowski (L, 1-5) was charged with allowing eight runs on eight hits and three walks while suffering the loss.
For Sharpe, she now has 24 home runs this season which eclipses the previous mark of 21 held by Ashley Gigax (2015). Her 71 RBI on the season match Amanda Neumann's high-water mark set in 2013. Additionally, she becomes the first player since Neumann (Apr. 27, 2013; vs. York) to hit three home runs in a single game.
