The Park University Gilbert softball team got two solid performances from their starting pitchers on Tuesday at Cactus Yards in Gilbert, Ariz., but struggled to put runs on the board and fell victim to a slew of errors as they dropped both games to Simpson by scores of 2-1 and 11-2.
Kylee Saunders was on the bump to start game one and put on one of the best pitching performances by a Buccaneer this season. The sophomore pitcher threw a complete game, scattered eight hits and held one of the best teams in the NAIA to just two runs; she also struck out four in the process.
Saunders's performance is particularly impressive when you consider how difficult it is for teams to prevent Simpson from lighting up the scoreboard. Tuesday's game one was their 35th game of the season and just the ninth time that they had been held to two or fewer runs; the last time they were held to that margin was seven games ago against La Sierra.
Unfortunately, the Buccaneers' bats struggled to buy a run all day and Saunders suffered a hard-luck loss despite the impressive outing. The only Bucs' run came in the fifth inning when Shaylah Dominguez and Danae Villarreal hit back-to-back doubles to put the Bucs' lone run on the board.
Dominguez finished game one 2-3 with a run; she hit another double in game two for a total of two on the day.
A lack of run support once again tanked the Buccaneers in game two, but this time, it came with a slew of mishaps that allowed the Redhawks to blow the game wide open. The Buccaneers were down 3-1 headed into the sixth inning before a dropped popup and a dropped flyball on back-to-back at-bats started a stretch of five errors in the final two innings.
The five errors led to a whopping eight unearned runs. Had it not been for the unearned runs, the Buccaneers would have been in striking distance going into the final inning when Amber Saiz drove in Villarreal with a single, but errors dug the Bucs a hole they could not climb out of.
Saiz was one of the few offensive bright spots for the Buccaneers in game two; she went 2-4 with an RBI and a stolen base.
Those defensive mistakes and the Bucs' inability to score also negated otherwise solid outings by Jessica Mendoza and Aubrey Bartlet. Mendoza went 5.2 innings and surrendered just three earned runs, while Bartlet threw 1.1 innings of relief, but fell victim to the play behind her.
The Buccaneers will have a chance to split their final series of the season tomorrow when they play another doubleheader with the Redhawks at Cactus Yards at 11 a.m.
