Allen Red Devil softball has won four straight, including Monday's doubleheader sweep of Southeast, courtesy of strong pitching a timely hitting.
One day after sweeping Seward County, the Red Devils were back on the diamond to take on Southeast of Beatrice, Neb.
Allen used a little bit of everything to pick up another sweep and extend its winning streak to four.
In the opener, Allen rode the pitching brilliance of Camrynn Yardley and some timely hitting to pull in a 3-1 victory.
Then, after spotting Southeast to a 5-0 lead through 4½ innings, Allen erupted for seven in the bottom of the fifth and pulled away from there for a 9-5 romp.
They're playing really well together,? Allen head coach Nicole Peters said. ?Where one lacks, you have somebody else picking up. It says a lot about our team.?
Yardley shined in the pitchers circle in game one, scattering five hits over seven innings with eight strikeouts.
Allen plated a run after loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the first on a sac fly from Jena Hendrix. Ashley Tribble doubled with one out in the fourth and scored on a passed ball for a 2-0 lead.
Southeast got a run back in the top of the fifth before Yardley stranded runners on first and second with a fly ball.
Bailey Campbell's bunt single led to an insurance run for ACC in the bottom of the fifth. She came around to score on Madisyn Havenstein's two-out single and a Southeast error.
Yardley worked around a leadoff single in the top of the seventh to seal the win.
Campbell paced the offense with a pair of singles and runs scored. Tribble had a double and a run. Hayley Gerberding and Havenstein also had singles.
THE drama cranked up a few notches for Game 2.
"We had some errors early on, but we definitely re-collected ourselves in the later innings," Peters noted.
Southeast pushed ahead with two in the second and three in the third.
And while Allen had plenty of baserunners, including a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the fourth, the Red Devils couldn't dent the scoreboard.
Until the fifth.
Allen's Kaylee Spreer got things started with a bunt single. Brooklyn Goehring roped an RBI triple to left. She then safely scrambled back to base safely on a fielder's choice after Campbell bunted up the third-base line, putting two runners on for Morgan Collins.
Collins worked her way out of an 0-2 hole, and laced a single to right, scoring two and making it 5-3.
"That was huge," Peters noted. "The pressure they put on Southeast in the fourth, and then getting that lead runner on in the fifth definitely helped. We were able to string some hits together after that."
Hendrix and Tribble followed with back-to-back doubles to knot the score at 5-5, still with one out. Gerberding walked on a full count, and both runners moved up on a double steal to set the table for Yardley.
Yardley took full advantage, blasting a line drive to the center field fence to push Allen ahead, 7-5.
That was all Collins needed to pick up the win in relief. She pitched four shutout innings, allowing two hits.
Photo and Article by Richard Luken