The Tabor College softball team finished the pre-conference schedule on a high note by sweeping a doubleheader with Hastings College on Saturday at the Hillsboro Sports Complex.
The Bluejays took game one 7-1. Bluejay ace Madison Byrd took the mound in Game 1. After the first four Broncos reached base on singles and Hastings grabbed a 1-0 lead, Byrd took control, striking out the next three batters in succession.
Byrd scattered six hits in a complete-game victory, striking out eight and walking no one.
Byrd and battery mate Kerrigan Travens got the Bluejays offense rolling, too. In both the first and third innings, Byrd led off with extra base hits and was driven home by Travens to put Tabor in front for good.
Byrd finished a homer short of the cycle, going 3-3 with two runs scored and two RBI while Travens was 2-4 with two RBI.
In the fourth inning, the Bluejays broke the game open when Madison Primrose singled to lead off the inning and scored on a two-out triple by Taylor Kathler, who would score on a Byrd single. Primrose and Kathler each had two hits in the game.
Tabor added a run in the fifth inning and two in the sixth to round out the scoring.
In Game 2, the Bluejays took advantage of some sloppy Bronco defense to score five runs in the first inning on one hit. The big blow came on a bases-loaded, two-run single by Madison Primrose that cleared the bases when the ball was mishandled by the right fielder.
Primrose scored on a ground out for the fifth Bluejay run of the inning. The Tabor second baseman finished 1-2 with a walk, a run scored and three RBI.
In the third inning, Kerrigan Travens led off with a walk, then moved to third on a double by Brittany Vankonynenburg. Josie Mora drove in Travens on a ground ball and reached second when the throw to first was wild.
After a walk to Primrose, another Bronco error scored Mora followed by a run-scoring single by Taylor Kathler. Vankonynenburg was 2-2 with a walk and a run scored.
Pitcher Hannah Jones got the win for Tabor with a five-inning complete game shutout. Jones needed just 66 pitches; she allowed three hits, two walks and one strikeout.
Coming—Tabor (8-13) opens KCAC play with a doubleheader at Southwestern College Wednesday in Winfield. Game 1 has a 1 p.m. starting time.
The Bluejays will cap the week with a trip to Leavenworth for a doubleheader against the University of Saint Mary (7-19).
