A late rally wasn’t enough for the Fort Lewis College softball team in its first game of the season Thursday.
FLC, under first-year head coach Ashley Reeves, traveled to St. George, Utah, to compete in the 2020 Courtyard Classic. FLC opened with a 5-2 loss to Western Washington University.
An error cost the Skyhawks (0-1) a run in the first inning. A two-run home run by Anna Kasner gave Western Washington (2-4) a 3-0 lead. Another error by FLC stretched the lead to 4-0 after six innings.
Western Washington tacked on one more run in the top of the seventh to take a 7-0 lead on a single from Tatum Dow that would score Brooke Fesenbek.
FLC would post its first runs of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Brianna Leav double that scored Taylor Holle. Leav would eventually score on the play. The throw to home plate to try to get Holle out would allow Leav to advance to third, and she would score on a throwing error, as Western Washington tried to throw her out.
“Once we settled in, we started to make contact and played a lot better,” Reeves said in an FLC news release. “But we waited too long to get our bats going. We needed to be on base more, cut down on the strikeouts and put the ball in play. When we put the ball in play, we can make things happen, and I was proud of our girls for taking the extra 60 feet when they had the chance.”
Kasner (2-2) was the winning pitcher for Western Washington, and she struck out 15 FLC batters to two walks. She allowed only two hits.
Mandy Lorenson took the loss for FLC in 3 2/3 innings of work. She allowed only two hits and struck out five, but she walked five and hit a batter. She allowed three runs, two of which were earned.
Kendra Keahbone recorded two outs in the circle for FLC. She struck out one, hit one batter and walked one. She didn’t allow a hit. Brianna Leavell finished the game in the circle. In 2 2/3 innings, she allowed five hits and two runs – one earned – to go with three strikeouts and one walk.
“Brianna did a really nice job of getting a first-pitch strike,” Reeves said. “She threw 39 strikes to 19 balls, which is what you want to see from your pitcher. Mandy struggled a little bit that first inning and was a little amped up in her first game back. When she settled in, she did very well. Once we can get her to trust herself and calm down, she’s going to be hard to hit. And then Kendra came in with runners on base and did a nice job doing what we asked her to do. Overall, I liked what we saw from our pitchers. We just need to work ahead of hitters a little more.”
FLC will face Notre Dame de Namur University at 10 a.m. Friday before a game against Western New Mexico at 12:30 p.m. Friday. Tournament action will continue at 10 a.m. Saturday against Montana State University-Billings and a 3 p.m. finale against Northwest Nazarene University.
“Game 1 is hard for anybody, especially for teams that haven’t been outside,” Reeves said, noting her team has yet to practice outside on their home Aspen Field because of snow. “But I don’t want that to be a crutch for us. We know if we had played a little better, we could have won the game. I think we’re going to be OK, settle in and, hopefully, win some games tomorrow.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
