Red Raiders Win Two More Fall Scrimmages
October 24, 2009 | Softball
Oct. 24, 2009
LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech hit five home runs in a pair of scrimmage games at Rocky Johnson Field and got great pitching from its staff to beat visiting community college programs Navarro and Western Texas, 6-0 and 11-0, respectively.
In the morning game with Navarro sophomore pitcher Karli Merlich threw four complete innings, scattered three hits and a walk and struck out two of the 15 batters she faced to maintain a perfect 0.00 era during the fall practice season (seven appearances, 20 innings pitched). Hillary Phillips came on to mop things up and allowed only a hit and a walk and fanned a batter in three innings of work in that game.
Logan Hall got things going for the offense in the first when her double to the fence in left field scored Stephanie Drewry who had singled and stolen second in front of Hall. The Red Raiders pushed two more across in the second on a walk, a few sloppy plays by the Navarro infield and a single by Leah Legler. In the bottom of the fourth, Holley Gentsch hit a bomb over the fence in left center field to begin the parade of home runs to follow later in the afternoon. Emily Bledsoe doubled to lead off the fifth, stole third and came around to score on a ground ball by Randi Tongate (RBI). Tech added another run in the seventh to complete the 6-0 contest.
Game two starter, freshman Ashley Brokeshoulder, threw five innings of hitless softball. (We could have used the word "perfect" had it not been for a throwing error which allowed the leadoff runner to reach to begin the fourth.) Brokeshoulder struck out nine of the 17 batters she faced. Merlich and Phillips picked up some extra work on the day as each struck out a batter and neither allowed a hit in an inning a piece. Which means the next sentence is this: The three Tech pitchers combined for a no-hitter. (What a lovely sentence.)
Legler got the offense rolling in the first with a single and back-to-back stolen bases of second and third which were completely unnecessary when Hall hit a 3-1 offering deep over the fence in left center. In the second Mikey Kenney decided to get into the thick of the Tech offense with a double. She scored on a single by Gentsch. In Kenney's next at bat, to lead off the fourth, she blasted a home run of her own which landed just short of the spot Hall had hit in the first inning. Not to be outdone, Bledsoe stepped in with two out in the fifth and slammed a three-run bomb. Kenney followed Bledsoe's shot with her second consecutive blast on the afternoon and the score was 8-0 when the dust settled in the fifth. Tech put up three more runs in the sixth and seventh as fall scrimmages feature unlimited substitutions and seven full innings regardless of the score.
Others collecting hits for the Red Raiders on the day were: Ashley Hamada, Desiree Harvey, Danielle Matthews, and Jordan Palmer. (Frankly, there may have been others, it's awfully hard to keep track when players without numbers are shuttling in and out of the game often in sneaky fashion and when the scorekeeper's eyes are getting woefully old in the first place!)
As a friendly reminder, these games and these statistics are completely unofficial and are played for the practice of it all, including for the umpire's sakes. Therefore, no box scores are kept and any statistics noted here will apply when the season officially begins in February.
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Texas Tech Alumnae Note:
Navarro is coached by former Red Raider Jessica Karenke (maiden name) who played from 1996-98 in Lubbock. She hit .271 in 1998 when Tech finished fourth in the Big 12.
