Foul weather doesn’t always mean foul play.
For Colorado State’s second home series of the season, games were postponed by one day due to classic Colorado weather. Play finally began for the Rams on March 9 where they faced off against the University of Maine.
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A doubleheader was in store for Colorado State on Saturday, with their second game of the day immediately following their 6-2 win over the Black Bears. Coming off the win, the Rams wanted to continue that success to get a win over the Drake University.
Colorado State was able to do just that, shutting out Drake 10-0 in five innings.
“A great day of competition,” coach Jen Fisher said. “Everyone played really well, especially in that last game.”
The first game against Maine proved to be a surprising challenge for the first several innings. Scoreless through the top of the third, Colorado State needed to get some momentum going in order to get some points on the board.
It wasn’t in the cards for either team to pull anything out in the third. With the top of the fourth inning on the horizon and a runner on third for the Black Bears, Maine was unable to get anyone home.
The top of the fifth was when things started to pick up, with the Black Bears gaining momentum. An incredible defensive play from the Rams catcher Brooke Bohlender and pitcher Danielle Serna kept Maine off the score sheet, but with confidence from that play, the Black Bears were able to put runners on second and third.
“The first couple of innings we needed to get a feel for the game,” Fisher said. “We knew what we needed to do, we just needed to figure out how they would respond.”
A line drive from Maine allowed those two runners to score, but at the bottom of the fifth the Rams were able to bring things back. Two hits from Bohlender and Sydney Hornbuckle put the Rams in the same position Maine was in.
It was deja vu for the Rams, as they tied it up after a line drive down the third base line from first-year Jailey Wilson drove in two runs. On the very next hit, Hailey Smith gave Wilson the perfect play off a sacrifice hit, giving the Rams the lead.
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It seemed all the Rams needed was points on the board, as the Rams scored two more runs off a near home run hit from Maya Matsubara.
Confidence was all the Rams needed as they ended the game 6-2.
After a 30 minute break, the Rams were ready to go again, this time against Drake.
The Rams were clearly fired up, scoring four runs in the first inning after back-to-back two-run doubles from Smith and Molly Gates. The second inning was all too familiar for the Rams, with a home run from Peyton Allen adding two runs to the Colorado State score.
For the Bulldogs, it seemed like an impossible effort to get through the pitching and defensive talent of the Rams. Hornbuckle was having a solid game, pitching five straight scoreless innings.
After a scoreless third inning, the Rams were back in the swing of things, with a steal from Matsubara and a double from Allen to give the Rams two points in the fourth inning. The Rams ended up scoring three runs.
“We played really well against Drake,” Fisher said. “Maine was pretty solid, but with that home run from Peyton and our solid defense, we got a really good win.”
The Rams were able to shut out the Bulldogs in five straight innings, ending the game early for Colorado State, sending them into Sunday’s matches with momentum.
Reach Emma Askren at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @emma_askren.
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