One adjustment at the plate turned Alyssa Boozy into a hero.
The sophomore power hitter tweaked her swing during her final at bat Monday, and the resulting home run helped the Blinn College Buccaneers complete a Region XIV South twin bill sweep of Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas.
Blinn picked up a 7-3 victory in game one before holding on for a 6-5 triumph in the finale.
The Bucs improved to 32-16-1 and 16-6 in the South, where they sit one game out of first place.
Boozy’s game-winning long ball in the seventh inning of game two – her sixth homer of the year – was in part a result of a keen eye from Blinn head coach Rick Church.
“Up until that point, she was getting underneath the ball,” Church said. “It was under, under, under, but all it takes is one adjustment and one swing, and that’s what she did for us. Big swing in a bog moment.”
(Pictured: Blinn sophomore Alyssa Boozy)
Boozy’s heroics preceded a tense bottom of the seventh inning in which the Roadrunners loaded the bases with two outs. Freshman pitcher Paige Bunting escaped the game and sent Blinn home with the sweep when she induced a ground out to second base.
Bunting earned her fifth pitching victory of the season after entering the game with the Bucs trailing 4-0 with two outs in the first frame. She worked 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in which she gave up seven hits and five walks while striking out three.
“She comes into the game and we’re already down, so I think the pressure was off of her a little bit,” Church said. “She was able to just concentrate and settle in and she pitched well when we needed her to.”
Freshman pitcher Bella De Los Santos started for Blinn but did not factor into the decision.
Angelina led 5-0 heading into the top of the third frame when the Bucs got on the board with an RBI single from sophomore Alayna Calvillo.
Back-to-back RBI singles from freshman Haley Hughes and sophomore Erynne Castillo made it 5-3 in the fourth, and Castillo and Calvillo drove in consecutive runs on singles to tie the game in the sixth.
Castillo and Hughes each had three hits, while sophomore catcher Madyson Henley added two. Blinn tallied 13 hits for the game.
In the opener, the Bucs opened up a 5-1 cushion in the second inning and fended off the Roadrunners from there.
(Pictured: Blinn freshman Paige Bunting)
Blinn and Angelina exchanged single tallies in the first inning before the Bucs pulled ahead for good in the second.
A Castillo RBI single made it 2-1 before the Bucs loaded the bases ahead of a three-run double off the bat of freshman Bailey Boetjer.
Boetjer made it 6-2 with an RBI base hit in the fourth and an RBI groundout from freshman Darian DeLeon made it 7-2 in the sixth.
The Roadrunners got one back in the seventh, but sophomore starting pitcher Peyton Welker set down the next three hitters she faced to finish her complete-game performance.
“Even though it was a 7-3 ballgame, we never really felt like our lead was safe,” Church said. “Angelina kept their energy up and kept putting runners on base. Peyton did a great job of working out of trouble today.”
Welker jumped to 17-5 after surrendering three earned runs on eight hits and four walks. She punched out six.
Blinn will take a brief break from region play when it hosts McLennan Community College – NJCAA Division I softball’s top-ranked team – for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24, at the Blinn Softball Field at Hohlt Park in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 47 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
