Fort Lewis College tripled its season win total in a hurry during the final day of the Dixie State tournament Saturday in St. George, Utah.
FLC (3-7) picked up a pair of wins behind power hitting, led by junior Angelique Elemen.
Elemen hit a two-run walkoff home run in the eighth inning of a 16-15 win against Northwest Nazarene University.
FLC continued its hot hitting in a 14-9 win against Western Washington University.
Elemen went 6-of-10 at the plate in the two games with three home runs, eight runs batted in and five runs scored. She now has six home runs this season, including one in each of the team’s last five games.
Against NNU (4-8), the teams combined for seven homers. McKenna Hefley added a homer for FLC. Denae Fisher and Tristen Gilbert also had doubles.
The Skyhawks had 15 hits in the game. Fisher was 2-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. Gilbert went 3-for-3 with a run and one RBI.
Kendra Keahbone (1-2) earned the win in the circle for FLC. She pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits and six runs, five earned. She walked three and struck out one. Kelly Decker pitched 1/3 of an inning and gave up five earned runs and one hit. She walked three and hit a batter. Kassidy Trumbo pitched five innings. She gave up eight hits and four earned runs while she walked three and struck out four.
Mandy Lorenson (2-2) was the winning pitcher for FLC against WWU (3-8). She went six innings and gave up 11 hits and eight runs, all earned. She walked six and struck out two and hit two batters. Decker pitched one inning and gave up three hits and one earned run. She struck out one.
Elemen put FLC up 3-0 in the first inning with a homer to left center. A Young single in the second followed by an Elemen double to score Young gave FLC a 5-0 lead, and Gilbert made it 7-0 with a two-run homer of her own before the end of the second inning.
Robyn Hall’s solo homer in the sixth gave FLC a 9-5 lead, and her single in the seventh put FLC up 10-8. She scored on a single by McKenna Hefley in the seventh. After Madelynne Blood-Smyth drew a bases-loaded walk to score Hefley, Young singled up the middle to score Julia Roberts and gave FLC a 14-8 lead going to the bottom of the seventh.
Kylie Hefley and Young both went 3-for-5 at the plate, while Hall was 3-for-3.
Two tournaments down, another on the horizon for the Skyhawks, as FLC will travel to Tucson, Arizona, this week for five games.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
