Home runs in fifth seal the deal for National Park softball

National Park College freshman Reagan White (33) swings against Carl Albert State Thursday at Majestic Park. - Photo by Bryan Rice of The Sentinel-Record
National Park College freshman Reagan White (33) swings against Carl Albert State Thursday at Majestic Park. - Photo by Bryan Rice of The Sentinel-Record

The Nighthawk softball team welcomed the Carl Albert State College Vikings to the Hawks Nest Thursday for a double header on homecoming.

National Park College took game one 10-1 and game two 8-2 with lighting hot bats and superior fielding.

"Yeah that was hard to swallow," Carl Albert State head coach Lexi Watson said. "We just hung some pitches and they took advantage of our pitches that hung and obviously it cost us the ballgame."

National Park (27- 17, 11-7 NJCAA Region II) sent sophomore Makenna Keeton to the mound to pitch to start the game against Viking center fielder Reagan Smith.

"Woohoo absolutely big," National Park head coach Autumn Wyatt said. "Oh my gosh they did an unbelievable job. Makenna did a great job of setting the pace on the mound."

Keeton retired Smith on a second pitch fly ball.

"Keeton kept their lineup off balance and gave us a chance to score runs," Wyatt said. "The offense did a great job of scoring early as well as scoring often."

Keeton has a cannon, firing 58 mph pitches into the strike zone. As a team, Carl Albert has a .254 batting average and an on base percentage of .308.

Keeton has pitched 86 innings and has a 3.58 ERA to go with 72 strikeouts.

"We have to come out with more energy," Watson said. "We need more passion."

The Vikings sent Isa Ray to the circle to face the dangerous Nighthawk hitters.

The Nighthawks wasted no time in the bottom of the first inning with sophomore Emma Hayes stealing second and becoming National Park's all-time steals leader with 62 stolen bases. The Nighthawks are ranked No. 14 in the country for stolen bases with 108.

Hayes has a .375 average, 11 RBIs and 54 hits this season.

National Park ended the bottom of the first inning with a 1-0 lead over the Vikings.

"This game coming in, first bat, take first pitch," Watson said. "Second at bat we have to make an adjustment. Whether we succeed or don't succeed, we have to make an adjustment."

The second inning was good to the Nighthawks as they got one more run across the plate before the Vikings retired the side, bringing the lead to 2-0 entering the top of the third inning.

Freshman Reagan Torres plays first base and smacked a double into the outfield, collecting an RBI and scoring one more for the Nighthawks in the third.

The Nighthawks kept the Vikings off the scoreboard through three while adding a run of their own. Going into the fourth inning, the Nighthawk lead was 3-0.

Carl Albert managed to get on the board in the top of the fourth, getting one batter across the plate and making the score 3-1 going into the bottom of the fourth.

Carl Albert struggled to get players on base throughout the game.

"We have to attack the first pitch," Watson said. "I mean it is a breaking pitch, screwball or curveball every time. As long as we can make an adjustment, they did not even have a pitching change. We just did not make the adjustment in that game."

In the fifth, Keeton struck out Haley Nguyen, stranding Smith on first base to retire the side and sending the Nighthawks to the plate.

To end the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, sophomore Jadyn Hart and sophomore Shelbee LeJeune would take the ball over the fence for three-run homers to earn the walk-off win.

Hart has hit four home runs this season, earning herself 37 RBIs and a .357 batting average.

"Oh my gosh," Wyatt joked. "I was joking with Jadyn because she had flown out to the fence last time. I told her to do a couple pushups and she actually did three pushups and then hit that one out. Maybe we need to start doing pushups before we hit."

LeJeune has also gone yard four times this season with 23 RBIs and a .284 average.

The Nighthawks closed out game one with a 10-1 victory and with Keeton pitching a complete game.

"That last inning I told the girls, 'Look we have got to pass the bat and refuse to get out,'" Wyatt said. "They just showed their heart."

Keeton picked up her ninth win of the season Thursday. Keeton allowed only one run and four hits while striking out four batters.

"We have to just play our level of softball," Wyatt said. "We have got to ride the momentum from game one and not ease up. We took game one in a dominant fashion."

Sophomore Kacey Solida and freshman Cameron Person both pitched in game two for the Nighthawks.

"We need to get a lead runner on," Watson said. "Just simple things. We made the routine plays. It was just not enough. Our pitching was off today, and they took advantage of that."

National Park travels to UA-Rich Mountain for another double header in NJCAA Region II play. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. today.

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