Apr. 18—JAMESTOWN — The University of Jamestown softball team came out on the wrong side of a pitcher’s duel in a 2-0 loss to Bellevue University (Nebraska) on Friday, April 18, at the Jimmies’ Nelson Family Bubble.
The Jimmies’ Hope Ransome pitched a complete game giving up two runs on six hits while striking out eight hitters and walking one. The Bruins’ Katie Cunningham also pitched a complete game, shutting the Jimmies out while giving up three hits and striking out eight and not walking anybody.
“She was just dialed in,” Bruins head coach Michala Cimino said. “She’s a senior so she’s gonna get the ball a lot. She’ll get the ball again tomorrow. She was just dialed in as a senior. She had her spin going and she pitched well. … Her rise ball was working well today and her changeup.”
The Bruins squeaked their noses in front in the sixth inning when Katie Cunningham hit a bloop single on the infield grass that allowed Kaitlyn Fisher to score all the way from second and take a 1-0 lead. The Bruins added another one on a single from Alexa Sidel in the seventh to take a 2-0 lead.
“We got lucky. We had two outs so the runner on second was going no matter what,” Cimino said about her team’s first run scoring play. “When you put the ball in play sometimes you get lucky.”
The Jimmies best chance to score in the game came in the fourth inning when they had runners on first and second and only one out but a fielder’s choice and a pop out ended the inning.
BU 2, UJ 0
BU: 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 — 2 6 0
UJ: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 0
WP: Katie Cunningham (12-6), LP: Hope Ransome (8-6)
Jimmies win game two
The Jimmies responded in the second game of the doubleheader to get a 7-1 win over the Bruins thanks to a stellar performance from Abby Blair.
Blair went 6.1 giving up one run on six hits while striking out two and not walking any Bruins hitters.
The Jimmies got off to a fast start in the second game when Kayla Quitanilla hit a double to score a run and then she was brought home on a single from Ransome to push the lead out to 2-0. The Jimmies added one more thanks to an error from the Bruins to go up 3-0 in the third inning. The Jimmies continued to push and they tacked on two more runs on three hits in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.
The game went into a lengthy delay in the sixth inning when a fan down the right field line was struck by a foul ball and left the game in an ambulance. Gall said he told his tema to continue to think about the fan but that she would be alright.
“When it comes down to it you’re teaching these kids to overcome adversity, well that’s kind of what we faced,” Jimmies head coach Kevin Gall said. “So there’s nothing different for athletes, you just gotta overcome adversity. That’s the worst case scenario of adversity you want to see. So it’s not easy, I think the batter for Bellevue came up with tears in her eyes. I don’t know how I would react, that’s a tough deal. But you just do the best you can and you’re gonna fail at times and then you just rise up and do your best again.”
The Jimmies biggest swing of the day came from Trinity Gregg when she lined one all the way to the wall in center and scurried around the bases for a two-run inside the park home run to push the lead out to 7-0. The Bruins found a way to break through in the seventh and bring it closer at 7-1 but the Jimmies were able to get out of the inning and get the six-run win.
“I was hoping that we would get a barrel on one, split the gap or whatever. Everybody wanted to see that when you saw the outfield playing in like that,” Gall said about the inside-the-park home run. “So it went over her head and it was rolling for a while and we needed the run. I felt good about her at-bats all day long it was just a matter of when is she gonna do it. She had good swings on Cunningham in the three at-bats she faced her and then she had good siwngs in her first two at-bats and had a good day. She was 6-for-6 in quality at-bats. So it was a really good day.”
The two teams start another doubleheader at noon on Saturday, April 19.
BU 1, UJ 7
BU: 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 6 3
UJ: 2 0 1 0 2 2 X — 7 10 0
WP: Abby Blair (9-6), LP: Ellie Zoucha (5-7)
JAMESTOWN — The University of Jamestown softball team came out on the wrong side of a pitcher’s duel in a 2-0 loss to Bellevue University (Nebraska) on Friday, April 18, at the Jimmies’ Nelson Family Bubble.
The Jimmies’ Hope Ransome pitched a complete game giving up two runs on six hits while striking out eight hitters and walking one. The Bruins’ Katie Cunningham also pitched a complete game, shutting the Jimmies out while giving up three hits and striking out eight and not walking anybody.
“She was just dialed in,” Bruins head coach Michala Cimino said. “She’s a senior so she’s gonna get the ball a lot. She’ll get the ball again tomorrow. She was just dialed in as a senior. She had her spin going and she pitched well. … Her rise ball was working well today and her changeup.”
The Bruins squeaked their noses in front in the sixth inning when Katie Cunningham hit a bloop single on the infield grass that allowed Kaitlyn Fisher to score all the way from second and take a 1-0 lead. The Bruins added another one on a single from Alexa Sidel in the seventh to take a 2-0 lead.
“We got lucky. We had two outs so the runner on second was going no matter what,” Cimino said about her team’s first run scoring play. “When you put the ball in play sometimes you get lucky.”
The Jimmies best chance to score in the game came in the fourth inning when they had runners on first and second and only one out but a fielder’s choice and a pop out ended the inning.
BU 2, UJ 0
BU: 0 0 0 0 0 1 1–2 6 0
UJ: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0–0 3 0
WP: Katie Cunningham (12-6), LP: Hope Ransome (8-6)
Jimmies win game two
The Jimmies responded in the second game of the doubleheader to get a 7-1 win over the Bruins thanks to a stellar performance from Abby Blair.
Blair went 6.1 giving up one run on six hits while striking out two and not walking any Bruins hitters.
The Jimmies got off to a fast start in the second game when Kayla Quitanilla hit a double to score a run and then she was brought home on a single from Ransome to push the lead out to 2-0. The Jimmies added one more thanks to an error from the Bruins to go up 3-0 in the third inning. The Jimmies continued to push and they tacked on two more runs on three hits in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.
The game went into a lengthy delay in the sixth inning when a fan down the right field line was struck by a foul ball and left the game in an ambulance. Gall said he told his tema to continue to think about the fan but that she would be alright.
“When it comes down to it you’re teaching these kids to overcome adversity, well that’s kind of what we faced,” Jimmies head coach Kevin Gall said. “So there’s nothing different for athletes, you just gotta overcome adversity. That’s the worst case scenario of adversity you want to see. So it’s not easy, I think the batter for Bellevue came up with tears in her eyes. I don’t know how I would react, that’s a tough deal. But you just do the best you can and you’re gonna fail at times and then you just rise up and do your best again.”
The Jimmies biggest swing of the day came from Trinity Gregg when she lined one all the way to the wall in center and scurried around the bases for a two-run inside the park home run to push the lead out to 7-0. The Bruins found a way to break through in the seventh and bring it closer at 7-1 but the Jimmies were able to get out of the inning and get the six-run win.
“I was hoping that we would get a barrel on one, split the gap or whatever. Everybody wanted to see that when you saw the outfield playing in like that,” Gall said about the inside-the-park home run. “So it went over her head and it was rolling for a while and we needed the run. I felt good about her at-bats all day long it was just a matter of when is she gonna do it. She had good swings on Cunningham in the three at-bats she faced her and then she had good siwngs in her first two at-bats and had a good day. She was 6-for-6 in quality at-bats. So it was a really good day.”
The two teams start another doubleheader at noon on Saturday, April 19.
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
BU 1, UJ 7
BU: 0 0 0 0 0 0 1–1 6 3
UJ: 2 0 1 0 2 2 X–7 10 0
WP: Abby Blair (9-6), LP: Ellie Zoucha (5-7)
