It took three pitchers to get the Fort Lewis College softball team through its first game of the season.
The Skyhawks lost 11-3 in six innings to Texas Woman’s University on Friday at Montana State-Billings’ Desert Stinger tournament in Las Vegas.
Victoria Johnson took the loss for FLC.
Destinee DeHerrera led the Skyhawks’ offense with two hits, while Chelsea Rodriguez went 1-for-1 with two walks.
“With this being the first game of the year, it’s the starting point. We’re going to take the positives from this game and move forward,” FLC head coach Kira Zeiter said after Game 1. “We hit the ball hard. We’ve been focusing a lot on hitting hard line drives and hard ground balls.”
The Skyhawks bounced back in their second game of the year, beating the University of Texas-Permian Basin 5-3 on Friday night.
Kiley Raica pitched seven innings for the win, striking out five and only allowing two earned runs.
Missy Fundora hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning and led FLC (1-1) with two runs batted in.
“Softball is a game of momentum, and that was a big hit,” Zeiter said.
DeHerrera and Rodriguez both had two hits and an RBI.
“It’s important in the game of softball to have a short memory. We even say it’s pitch to pitch,” Zeiter said. “It’s nice for our team to play the kind of softball we’re capable of.”
FLC will continue tournament play against Simon Fraser and Hawaii-Hilo at 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, respectively.
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