ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The Pitt State softball team opened the 2017 Hy-Vee Invitational hosted by Missouri Western with wins over Winona State and St. Cloud State. In the first game of the day, the Gorillas earned a 2-0 win over Winona State. Game two saw the Gorillas take an 11-1 victory in five innings over St. Cloud State.
Pitt State put together a good combination of solid pitching and consistent hitting to earn the win over Winona State. Emmie Robertson allowed only one hit in the game, while the Gorilla offense put up 10 hits.
The only hit Robertson gave up was in the first inning. She walked two and hit one batter, but struck out 11. She is now 13-3 on the season.
The Gorilla offense had at least one hit in every inning. Seven of the nine batters had at least one hit, while Shelby Miller, Kala Holder and Kristen VanHoosen each had two.
All of the scoring came in the second inning. Holder led off the inning with a base hit. Lawren McKinney reached on a fielder's choice that put holder out at second. Katy Remy and Jenna Bolton drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. VanHoosen earned an RBI with a base hit that scored McKinney and Kaity Kukowski followed with another RBI base hit to score Remy.
The Gorilla offense continued to shine against St. Cloud State, although this time the team was able to push more runs across the plate. Pitt State scored 11 runs on 14 hits. VanHoosen was solid at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a home run three RBI and three runs scored. McKinney and Remy each went 2-for-3 and Kukowski was 2-for-4.
The Pitt State pitching staff also fared well. Bree Cornett started the game and gave up the only run on four hits in 3.1 innings of work. Her record improves to 5-2 on the year She struck out four batters. Brittany Beaudet pitched 0.2 innings and only gave up a walk. Robertson pitched the final inning, only giving up a walk.
Pitt State first scored in the second. Remy started the Gorillas with a one-out base hit to right center. VanHoosen followed with a base hit to left. With two outs, Jenna Bolton dropped a two-RBI double in left center. She came home on a Kukowski base hit.
The Gorillas plated two more runs in the third. McKinney hit a one-out triple to center and came home on VanHoosen's home run to left.
St. Cloud State scored its only run on an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth.
Pitt State put the game out of reach with six runs in the top of the fifth. Six consecutive hits, including back-to-back doubles by Myka Hayward and McKinney, resulted in six runs for the final 11-1 score.
The Gorillas continue Hy-Vee Invitational play on Saturday with University of Mary at 10 a.m. and Upper Iowa at 2 p.m.
