Kansas City
North Carolina Central
?Roos Pounce Eagles in Five Innings, 8-0
2/9/2013 11:56:00 AM | Softball
To start the game, Kansas City took an early 1-0 lead when outfielder Emily Ott laid down a bunt and reached first as infielder Liz Broyles scored from third. Later in the first, Ott beat out the throw at second for a stolen base as infielder Marlee Maples stole home from third to increase the Kangaroo lead to two.
In the third, same score, Broyles led off the inning with her second single of the game, followed by a bunt-single by Maples. But, the Eagles held steady by retiring the next three Kansas City batters to get out of the jam.
Next inning, the Kangaroos blew the game open beginning with a Katie Kelley RBI-single up the middle and later advancing to third after NCCU's fourth error of the game, as pinch runner Katie Cruse scored to make it a 3-0 ball game. Two batters later, outfielder Brooke Parker RBI-singled up the middle to bring in Kelley.
Kansas City continued its scoring output in the fourth when Maples beat out a throw at first to bring in Parker from third, followed by a pair of RBI-doubles by Ott and designated player Caitlin Christopher to push Kansas City's lead to 7-0.
To put the game out of reach, the Kangaroos made it an 8-0 ball game in the fifth when pinch runner Kelsey Dean RBI-doubled to right-center to bring in pinch runner Katie Petersen.
At game's end, the Kangaroo offense tallied 10 hits, led by Maples' 2-for-3 performance at the plate to go along with two runs, a stolen base and an RBI, while Broyles went 2-for-2 with a run scored and a stolen base. For Ott, meanwhile, her two RBI inched her closer to becoming the program's all-time leader as she now needs two more to pass Amanda Rice (97).
As for Kelley (1-0), she picked up a shutout in her first-career start while allowing four hits, surrendering no walks and striking out five batters. At the plate, she went 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.
Coming up, the Kangaroos will be in action later today at 3 p.m. against the USC-Upstate Spartans, which can be seen on A-Sun Television (http://asun.neulion.com/asc/).
