Box Score The Blinn College softball team wrapped up the Highlander Tournament with a 7-4 victory over Howard College on Saturday in Waco, Texas.
The Buccaneers improved to 7-3-1 overall after holding off a late Hawks rally.
“Things got interesting in the seventh inning,” Blinn head coach Rick Church said. “We had missed opportunities in the fourth and fifth innings to put the game out of reach but failed to execute. Luckily we found a way out of trouble.”
Sophomore pitcher Peyton Welker earned her fifth victory of the season and pushed her streak of scoreless innings to 24 2/3 frames before she allowed a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. She worked 5 1/3 innings against Howard and was charged with two unearned runs on two hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.
Howard scored two runs in the seventh and loaded the bases with one out, but sophomore relief pitcher Camdyn Shugart struck out the final two hitters she faced to end the game. Shugart allowed two unearned runs on a pair of hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Blinn built an early 2-0 lead before stretching it to 7-0 with a five-run fourth inning.
Freshman Bailey Boetjer hit a sacrifice fly to open the scoring in the second, and sophomore Alyssa Boozy drilled an RBI double in the third. Then in the fourth, freshman Kayden Harms scored on an error before freshman Haley Hughes slapped a two-run single to left field. Sophomore Alayna Calvillo played another run with a sacrifice fly and Hughes later came around to score on another Hawks error.
Boozy and Boetjer each had two of Blinn’s nine hits.
The Bucs were also scheduled to take on tournament host and sixth-ranked McLennan Community College on Saturday, but cold weather postponed the game. Blinn and the Highlassies will now face off in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 19, in Waco.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 45 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
