Fri.
UJ Softball…
Tucson Invitational
Game One
Jamestown 8 Dordt o (6 innings)
Game Two
U of St. Francis, ILL 12 Jamestown 1 (6-innings)
TUCSON, Ariz. (uj.edu)— Katie Merchant (SO/South Haven, Minn.) tossed a one-hit shutout as the University of Jamestown softball team defeated Dordt (Iowa) University 8-0 in six innings Friday at the Tucson Invitational Games.
It was the first of two victories on the day for Jamestown (12-7), who also defeated Benedictine (Kan.) 12-4 in six innings later Friday night.
Merchant (5-2) allowed only a single to lead off the fifth inning while striking out six.
Mariah Martinez (SO/Visalia, Calif.) was 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in three runs. Mikayla Frost (SR/Melba, Idaho) and Morgan Geiszler (JR/Horace, N.D.) also had two hits.
Geiszler doubled to right field leading off the bottom of the third, then scored on a single by Steph Cota (SO/Tucson, Ariz.) for the game’s first run. Martinez hit a sacrifice fly to score Cota to make it 2-0.
Lauren Diemert (FR/West Fargo, N.D.) came home on a Defender error in the bottom of the fourth, then Martinez doubled home Mariah Wick (JR/Jamestown, N.D.) in the bottom of the fifth for a 4-0 lead.
Frost, Martinez, and Kassi Ward (JR/Olympia, Wash.) had run-scoring hits in the bottom of the sixth as Jamestown plated four runs to end the game via the eight-run rule.
Wick, Santina Zito (SO/Boise, Idaho), Katie Reisdorfer (JR/Fresno, Calif.), and Jenna Remenar (FR/Vancouver, Wash.) also found their way into the hit column for UJ.
In Friday’s second game, the Jimmies found themselves on the wrong end of a 12-1 loss to Saint Francis (Ill.)
Jamestown got on the board in the bottom of the first as Zito doubled down the left field line to score Martinez, who reached base after being hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice.
The Jimmies managed just three hits over the next five innings while Saint Francis scored four runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, and seven in the sixth for a 12-1 lead.
Geiszler was 2-for-2 to lead the offense with Wick and Reisdorfer also recording hits.
Frost tied a school record with five hits, going 5-for-5 as UJ beat Benedictine (Kan.) 12-4 in six innings to conclude the Tucson trip. She is the fifth Jimmie player since 1995 to get five hits in a game and the first since Rylee Perez in 2016 against Dakota State (S.D.) University.
Diemert went 3-for-4, scoring two runs and driving in another while Cota, Hailey Sandoval (SR/Lake Stevens, Wash.), and Courtney Espinoza (SR/Avondale, Ariz.) each had a pair of hits.
The Jimmies led 2-1 after three innings, then broke the game open with an eight-run fourth to go ahead 10-1.
Benedictine scored three in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the lead to 10-4, but UJ made it 12-4 after the top of the sixth. The game ended after six innings because of the eight-run rule.
Ann-Marie Crandlemire (SO/Sicamous, BC) (2-2) pitched four innings for the win. She gave up one run on four hits while walking two and striking out three.
Due to the Great Plains Athletic Conference suspending all athletic activites through April 5, Jamestown is not scheduled to play again until April 14, when they host Valley City State (N.D.) in a non-conference double header at 4 p.m.
