Roos Fall Short in Pitching Duel with Houston Christian

Sunday, February 25

Houston, TX

2:00 PM

Kansas City

6-9

Houston Christian

7-6

Kansas City

Houston Christian

Photo by: Michael Sudhalter

Roos Fall Short in Pitching Duel with Houston Christian

2/25/2024 5:27:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Kansas City looked to rally in the seventh but couldn’t bring in the tying run

HOUSTON, Texas - Kansas City Softball (6-9) and Houston Christian (7-6) faced off in a low-scoring matchup with the Huskies ultimately coming out on top 2-1. Houston Christian made it to the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second inning, the Roos looked to respond in the fifth, but could not bring a run in. The Huskies tacked on another run in the sixth to extend their lead to two. The Blue and Gold looked to make a rally in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with one out. A single from Abby Husak brought in one run, but the Roos left three on base, unable to bring in the tying run. Derika Castillo led the Roos from the plate in the loss, notching two hits in just three at-bats. The Roos split time among three pitchers today, with Sheridon Wilber receiving the starting nod. Each of the three threw for two innings and Bailey Brumley led the Roos in strikeouts with two.

KEY MOMENTS

Bottom 4 / 1-0 | Houston Christian opened the inning with a with a single. The runner advanced to third with one out, but a crucial double play from Katie Noble at first closed the inning, holding the Huskies scoreless.
Top 5 / 1-0 | The Roos put together their best scoring opportunity thus far, with a single from Castillo to open the inning. Amelia Fitzgerald followed her, hitting another single and moving Castillo's pinch runner into scoring position. Taylor Kvale, pinch-running for Castillo, then stole third but the next three batters grounded and filed out to close the at-bat.
Top 7/ 2-1|Sydney Nichols got things going at the top of the at-bat for the Roos with a single through the left side. Castillo then singled it down the left to push Nichols into scoring position. The Huskies notched a strikeout for their first out of the inning before allowing Daniels to reach first on an error and load the bases. A single from Husak brought in the lone Kansas City run, but the Huskies brought the game to a close with a fielder's choice and ground out.

STATS TO NOTE

Briona Woods notched a single in the top of the fourth inning to extend her hitting streak to 11 games and tie her with Kloe Hilbrenner for the longest hitting streak since 2021.
Nine putouts at first base put Noble just one shy of her season-high 10 putouts that she earned against Ole Miss on Feb. 9. In the bottom of the fourth, Noble earned her own double play. Last season Noble led the team in putouts with 213 on the season.
Today the Roos had three pitchers in the circle. Wilber opened the game, Brumley came in to relieve her and Camryn Stickel closed things out. This marks the fourth occasion this season the Roos have brought in two relief pitchers (Feb. 8 vs. BYU, Feb. 10 vs. Nevada, Feb. 16 vs. DePaul. The three pitchers combined for four strikeouts on the day.
Castillo was the only Roo to put up a multi-hit performance notching two hits in three at-bats. Two hits is a season-high for her and marks her first multi-hit appearance as a Roo. So far this season, Castillo has notched six hits and five RBIs.

UP NEXT
The Roos travel to the Tulsa, Oklahoma State invitational for another five-game weekend. Kansas City will face, Seattle, Drake, Miami Ohio and Tulsa in the tournament. The Blue and Gold get things started Friday facing Seattle (6-8) at 10 a.m. and Drake (6-4) at 12:30 p.m.