Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Houston Baptist
Army Splits Doubleheader In Season Opener In Texas
February 13, 2011 | Softball
Box Score Game 1; Box Score Game 2
HOUSTON, Texas - Freshman Haley Pypes pitched five strong innings, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs helping her cause in Army's 13-5 defeat of host Houston Baptist in the nightcap of a softball doubleheader to earn a split of the season opener for both teams Saturday at Husky Field. The Black Knights (1-1) rebounded from an 8-0 six-inning first game defeat.
After being held scoreless for six innings in the opener, Army took command in the nightcap. The Black Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Pypes' two-out homer to left field with classmate Amanda Nguyen, who led off with a bunt single, on board.
The Black Knights exploded for six runs in the third inning on five hits as Army batted around to pull out to a commanding 8-0 lead. Alex Reynolds' RBI single scored the first run, and she crossed on team captain Angela Deger's one-out double to left center field With bases loaded, outfielder Reanna Johnson drew an RBI walk that knocked out Kelly Shuler who gave way to Beth Evans. With two outs, freshman Meghan McGowan's single up the middle drove in pinch runner Clara Navarro.
Nguyen, the leadoff hitter who went 3-for-4, came up for her second at-bat along with her second hit in that inning, and went to second on an error by the pitcher as two unearned runs came in before the Huskies got out of the inning on an infield groundout.
Pypes, tossing a six-hitter over five innings in her collegiate debut, held the Huskies to just one hit in the first three innings. Houston Baptist snapped the deadlock with a run in the bottom of the third, then added two more in the fifth inning on a solo homer and sacrifice fly. The Huskies continued their rally with a pair of runs in the sixth-inning off reliever Shawna Bleyl to draw to 8-5.
The Black Knights put the game away behind a five-run seventh off Shuler with freshman April Ortenzo's three-run double closing out the scoring following RBI singles by McGowan and Reynolds.
After yielding back-to-back singles in the bottom of the seventh, Bleyl did not allow the Huskies to capitalize as she closed the door with three straight outs, the last on a strikeout looking.
Army and Houston Baptist played three scoreless innings in the opener with a pair of Huskies runners stranded in each of those innings by Bleyl before they touched her for four runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth inning. Freshman Marina Northup took over from Bleyl in the fifth inning and Houston Baptist scored a run in that frame, then forced the game to be called on the eight-run rule following a three-run sixth.
Husky Jamie Weider (1-0) went the distance on a five-hitter, struck out four and issued just one walk over six innings, with Army's Nguyen collecting two of those hits in three plate appearances. The Black Knights were in scoring position in four of the innings, twice reaching third base, but Weider got out safely each time on a force at home plate in the second, and groundout and infield popup in the sixth inning.
Army plays Houston Baptist Sunday in the rubber game, then takes on Texas Southern in closing out its trip to Texas.
