Kansas City Softball Splits in Second Day of the DePaul Dome Tournament

Saturday, February 13

Rosemont, Ill.

11:30 AM

Kansas City

3-1

Valparaiso University

1-2

Valparaiso

Kansas City

Photo by: Ellman Photography

Kansas City Softball Splits in Second Day of the DePaul Dome Tournament

2/13/2021 5:59:00 PM | Softball

Box Score KC v. Valpo Box Score

Another impressive performance by freshman pitcher Camryn Stickel

Rosemont, Ill. – The second day in the Dome gave Kansas City (3-1) two competitive clashes that left the Roos 1-1 on the day.

Game No. One v. DePaul [Final 6-9]
Kansas City picked up where they left off the day before with hot bats as they tried to take down the tournament hosts, DePaul Blue Demons (2-1). An offensive battle came down to timely hitting by the Blue Demons who scored six in the final two innings, giving Kansas City their first loss of the season with a 6-9 final score.

In the very first at-bat of the game, Katherine Karnatz led off with a double to right field. She crossed the plate on an Alexis D'Ambrosio single. Delainey Fenoglio added a single in the frame and Lia Lombardini brought another run home with a double to give the Roos a 2-0 first inning lead.

"Indoor games are tough. I believe Hilbrenner and Vonfeldt would have crushed two homeruns and blown the game out in the first inning," Head Coach Kerry Shaw said. "In this dome tournament anything that hits the ceiling is an automatic out, so it is tough as a player when you square up a ball and it's an out."

The first four innings were back and forth. DePaul got two runs across the plate in the bottom of the fourth to grab a one-run lead. Kansas City answered back quickly in the top of the fifth with a two-out single up the middle by Abby Sciara to score Lombardini and Fenoglio. A two-out rally by DePaul in the bottom of the fifth and a costly three run error on a bunt by Roos in the sixth sealed the game for the Blue Demons.

"We have to catch more balls in the outfield and that's the difference in the game," Shaw explained. "To be a good team you have make tough plays in the outfield because those are the plays that give teams big rallies."

Kansas City tried to muster a comeback in the final frame. The late rally was started by a single to centerfield by Ally Vonfeldt who was later driven in by Ashley Thorne. Maggie Klover narrowed the DePaul lead to three with a single to left field that scored Thorne but the two runs weren't enough.

Mia Hoveland started the second game of her junior campaign. Although she gave up 17 hits, she still struck out nine DePaul batters to give her 22 total strikeouts on the season. Two less than in the shortened 2020 season where she notched 24 strikeouts in 19 games.

Game No. Two v. Valparaiso [Final 3-2 in 9 innings]
The second game of the day was another nail biter against Valparaiso (1-2). The Roos prevailed in their second international tiebreaker in the tournament. The final Roo to cross the plate was Faith Willis, scoring in the bottom of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Ashley Thorne. Thorne was a reliable source for Kansas City's offense in the game. She ended the game with two hits and all three RBIs for the Roos, including another sacrifice to deep centerfield to score the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh.

"The freshman pitcher is showing toughness," coach said. "She had runners on the bases a lot late in the game and held them scoreless for the remaining eight innings."

In the second game of her collegiate career, pitcher Camryn Stickel stuck it to the Valpo hitters. After the opposition posted two runs in the first inning, Stickel shut down the brown and gold only allowing four hits and gaining four strikeouts.

"The defense stepped up. Sciara stepped up and played shortstop when we needed her and made some tough plays. One notable play is when she jumped up high to her back side to snag a line drive and doubled off the runner in eighth inning."

Kansas City out-hit Valpo 10-7 in the defensive pitchers' duel. Vonfeldt piloted the Roos in the hit column with three, followed by Thorne with two and Willis with two hits and all three runs in the game. Kloe Hilbrenner, Fenoglio, and Faith Denning all added one of their own.

"Credit to Valpo's pitcher for keeping us off balanced. We will go into tomorrow with a plan of attack to make adjustments quicker," Coach Shaw noted.

The Roos will get another chance to add to the win column in a rematch against Valparaiso in the morning in the closing game of the DePaul Dome Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 9 a.m. Follow Kansas City Softball @KCRoosSB for news, updates, and highlights.