Kansas City
Western Illinois
Kansas City Pounces Leathernecks in Five Innings to Take Series
4/14/2013 3:11:00 PM | Softball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City Kangaroos (14-17, 3-3 SL) wasted no time in jumping all over the Western Illinois Leathernecks (9-17, 3-10 SL) to not only come away with a 9-0 win in five innings, but to take the series after splitting yesterday's doubleheader.
To open the game in the first with two outs, no score, designated hitter Katie Kelley capitalized with the bases loaded when she singled to right field to bring in infielder Liz Broyles from third, whereas outfielder Emily Ott scored from second after an error by the Leathernecks during the sequence.
Two innings later, same score, Western Illinois had a chance to do some damage when it loaded bases after outfielder Briana Williams singled to left field with two outs. However, the Kangaroos kept the Leathernecks at bay when pitcher Deanna Friese (9-9) forced infielder Megg Kelly to fly out to Bri Wyatt in left for the final out of the inning.
To lead off the third for Kansas City, infielder Liz Broyles sent one deep to center field near the warning track, but was caught for the out. Next up, infielder Marlee Maples (3) swung at the first pitch and belted one deep to center field again, as this time it went over the fence for a solo home run to make it a 3-0 ball game.
Two batters later, after Ott reached on an infield single, infielder Chelsea Hartwig (1) pushed UMKC's lead to five with a two-run blast to center off starting pitcher Kelsey Michelini (4-10). With this home run, Hartwig is now three away from passing Amanda Rice (1999-02) to become the program's all-time leader.
In the fourth, Kansas City continued to pour it on by taking advantage of three Western Illinois errors to score four runs, headlined by Ott driving in Broyles and Maples with a double to right center.
To seal the game in the fifth, Friese and UMKC's defense retired Western Illinois in order to come away with the victory. In her third shutout win of the season, Friese allowed three hits, one walk and recorded three K's in Sunday's outing.
Offensively, meanwhile, Kansas City tallied eight hits, led by Maples going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a home run, along with Ott turning in a 2-for-2 performance at the plate with a walk, two RBI and a run scored.
Coming up, the Blue & Gold will kickoff a five-game road swing Wednesday in a doubleheader (2 p.m. and 4 p.m.) against the Iowa State Cyclones, followed by a Summit League series matchup against the IUPUI Jaguars over the weekend.
