MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- With the annual Moose Jaw and District Minor Girls Fastball ‘A’ tournament on the horizon, the Moose Jaw Ice took a pair of commanding victories over the Regina Lazers in league action on the evening of Wednesday, June 27.
Moose Jaw rolled to an 11-0 four-inning mercy-rule win in their opening game of the Regina Minor Softball League doubleheader at Optimist Park and followed up with a 9-3 victory in the nightcap.
The Ice are now 35-6-1 on the campaign, including 8-2 in league action.
Ice 11, Lazers 0
The Ice did the majority of their damage in the third inning, sending 11 batters to the plate and putting up eight runs to take a 10-0 lead. They’d tack on one more the next inning to invoke the mercy rule.
Tara Bell led the offence with a 3-for-3 game that included a double and a pair of runs scored, while Callie Bell also hit a double and was 2-for-2 with two runs. Charlize Hillmer hit a triple and knocked in a pair, Avery Garthus was 2-for-3 with a run and RBI.
Aurora Wingenbach got the start in the circle and pitched two hitless innings, striking out three. Avery Funke closed things out, giving up a single hit in two innings of work.
Ice 9, Lazers 3
Things were far closer in the rematch, as Moose Jaw took a 3-2 lead out of the first inning and held a 6-3 edge through two.That would mark the end of the offence for Regina, though, and the Ice would add two more runs in the fifth and another in the seventh to take the comfortable win.
Bell and Garthus led the way at the plate, each going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a pair of RBI, with Garthus finishing a home run away from hitting for the cycle. Kayli Koch hit a two-run home run in the first inning, Taryn Friesen was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and Hillmer crossed the plate twice.
Funke started the game and gave up three runs on four hits over three innings before Garthus tossed the next three, giving up a single hit and striking out five. Wingenbach finished things off, allowing a single hit in the final inning.
