Kansas City
Butler
Kansas City Splits Pair With Butler, Arkansas
2/16/2014 12:58:00 PM | Softball
(Fayetteville, Ark.) – Katie Kelley pitched her third complete game of the season and hit a pair of homeruns to lead Kansas City to a 9-3 victory over Butler on Sunday.
The Kangaroos were first on the board, scoring a run in the top of the first inning after Brooke Parker and Bri Wyatt led off the game with a walk and a single, respectively. Katie Kelley moved the runners with a ground out, and Caitlin Christopher plated Parker with a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
Butler answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring a pair of runs on the tail end of an RBI single. The Bulldogs would leave two runners stranded, however, and it would not be the last time.
UMKC lit up the scoreboard in the top of the third inning; ignited, once again, by a Parker lead-off walk. Wyatt reached with an infield hit, and one batter later, Katie Kelley provided her own run support with a three-run blast to left field. An Aly Zembruski walk, followed by a Marlee Maples RBI single, gave the 'Roos a four-spot and extended the advantage to 5-2.
Kelley surrended a homerun in the home half of the third, but it would be the last time Butler would get to her. Kelley was masterful pitching her way through jams in the final three innings of the game, forcing the Bulldogs to strand a total of seven baserunners down the stretch.
For good measure, the Kansas City pitcher crushed her second homerun in as many at bats to lead off the fifth inning, this one a line drive that scarcely changed altitude on its way out of the yard. Two batters later, Zembruski singled, Cinda Ramos burned the centerfielder with a well-hit double, and Maples plated them both with a base hit back through the middle. Alex Friloux followed with an RBI single of her own, setting the final margin at 9-3.
The 'Roos faced the host Arkansas Razorbacks in the second game of the Sunday doubleheader, falling 10-0.
Arkansas scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning, an explosion aided by a pair of errors and homeruns. The Razorbacks added three in the home half of the second, and the game was all but out of reach.
For the tournament, Kelley went 2-1 for UMKC picking up a pair of complete games and dropping her earned run average to 2.88. Christopher bolstered the offense with a tournament-best nine RBI, including two homeruns. Brooke Parker stole four bases, bumping her WAC-leading season total to 10, and drove in the game-winning run with a walk-off single vs. Butler on Saturday.
Kansas City will head to Arlington, Texas next weekend for the UTA Hilton Invitational. The 'Roos will play Illinois and Texas Tech on Friday at noon and 4 p.m., respectively.
