LINCOLN, Calif. – After a brief trip to Arizona, No. 23 Jessup was back on home turf Friday as it hosted the San Diego Christian Hawks for a GSAC doubleheader. The Warriors scored early and often while the defense stayed strong, as they cruised to 8-0 and 16-0 victories to sweep the day and improve to 12-2 in conference play.
Jessup's second game of the day came close to school history, as the Warriors were just two runs shy of the school record of 18 runs in a game.
"Our approach from one game to the next is always the same, stay aggressive and work hard to compete at our best for our team," said head coach
Brie Campbell. "It was a great day on the field with a pair of wins and especially an offensive surge and adjustments by all in the box."
The Warriors got on the board early in the first game, putting up two in the bottom of the first inning.
Kaylee Winn and
Aaliyah Pineda each brought runs home by drawing walks with the bases loaded. Winn added another run batted in in the third inning with a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 Jessup advantage.
Jessup kept the party rolling in the fourth, as
Kaela Hangebrauck,
Sam Lorge, and
Hailey Hiett all drove runs home to extend the Jessup lead to 7-0.
Kayla Altheide walked it off for Jessup in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI groundout that enforced the run rule.
Katie Blankenheim had another great afternoon in the circle, earning her tenth winning decision in five innings of work. The righty fanned four Hawks batters and allowed no runs on three hits while surrendering just one base on balls.
Defensively,
Maddy Ybarra showed off her arm once again, turning a crucial double play in the fourth inning in which she recorded a putout on a fly ball and threw the runner tagging out at the plate.
Jessup's offense picked up right where it left off in game two, putting up three runs in the bottom half of the first. One more run was added in the second before the fireworks began in the third inning.
The Warriors put up 12 runs in the third to blow the game wide open. Six different Warriors had an RBI in the game, with
Kayla Altheide and Lorge leading the way with five and four, respectively. Lorge and Altheide both hit solo home runs as well. Jessup scored in unconventional ways in the inning, adding runs from walks, dropped third strikes, and errors.
When it was all said and done, Jessup had added 12 runs on 18 at-bats in the inning. The Warriors had 9 hits and two errors, with three left on base in the third. Jessup preserved the shutout in the final two innings, cruising to a 16 run win after five innings.
The Warriors will be on the road again next week, as they will face Hope International and Vanguard in two crucial GSAC series.
"We have officially started the final round of conference matchups, so each game counts. We look forward to continuing in the positive direction where we're getting better each game," said Campbell about the final stretch.
Campbell offered her thoughts on the upcoming series by stating that Jessup is going to Southern California to face "another pair of good teams where we'll look to bring our best to the field each day."
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William Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on William Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: William Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Twitter & Instagram).
