Pitching Powers SMCC Softball to Sweep of Benedictine

The South Mountain Community College softball team (7-9) won both ends of a doubleheader against Benedictine University-Mesa on Wednesday, Mar. 4. The Cougars posted a 9-5 victory in the first game and then won 6-3 in the second as they continued an eight-game homestand.

Freshmen Julia Ruble and Christian Smith threw complete games for SMCC. Ruble (2-1) won the first game, scattering eight hits and three earned runs to go with two strikeouts. Smith (1-2) recorded her first win of the season by allowing one earned run to go with three K's.

Six Cougars stole seven bases in game one: Jaymie Moore, Elisabeth Raby, Destiny Apodaca, Jeweliana Navarro, Ali Ashner (2) and Smith. Ashner went 3 for 4 with a double, triple, three runs and two RBIs in the victory.

Vanessa Gutierrez, Moore, Raby, Apodaca and Ruble all finished with two hits. Gutierrez hit a three-run home run, her first of the season, in the first inning, and Moore added a double, a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base. Ruble finished with three RBIs and a double to help her cause in the circle.

Behind Gutierrez's deep fly, SMCC jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first. The Cougars added three runs in the second and a single in the fourth.

Game two saw Ashner go a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate. She finished a triple short of the cycle, collecting her eighth double and sixth home run of the season to go with four RBIs.

Moore went 1 for 2 with two runs, two RBIs and a walk while Smith, Alexa Key and Rebecca Goodwin all scored a run. Raby, Apodaca, Smith, Key and Goodwin all recorded stolen bases to give the Cougars 52 through 16 games.

The Cougars scored a run in the first only to see the Redhawks strike for two in the second. SMCC reclaimed the lead with three runs in the second and then added single runs in the fourth and the fifth.