Eagles Roll Past Spires to Start Conference Play

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – An 11-run offensive explosion in the third inning of the second game flipped the game script and catapulted Avila softball (15-10, 2-0 KCAC) to a doubleheader sweep of Saint Mary (14-11, 0-4 KCAC) on a soggy Tuesday afternoon in Leavenworth.

Finally playing back close to home after a week in the southeast, Avila opened up KCAC play in 2023 against their local rivals, winning a close first game before winning a second game that started close but finished anything but.

Neither offense got much going in the early stages of game one Tuesday until Avila finally opened up the scoring with a two-out rally in the fifth. McKayla Cotton led off the inning with a single and, a couple of batters later, pinch-runner Jordy Pollo was moved over to third. Chelsea Kurtz smacked a grounder to third but the throw went wayward, allowing Pollo to score the opening run. The very next batter, Kurtz stole second and Kennedee Lara sent a single into center field that brought a hustling Kurtz home to put Avila up 2-0.

Saint Mary quickly answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Payton Walter was lights out for the Eagles otherwise. Avila added an important insurance run in the seventh when Cotton tripled and scored on a sac fly from Kat Wilds, and Walter returned for the bottom half and allowed a single and no more, wrapping up a 3-1 Avila victory. Walter earned her seventh win in her sixth complete game of the season, allowing just one run on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

Tuesday's first game was low scoring and closely contested, but after a tense start the second game became anything but. The Spires generated loads of traffic early in the game and managed to push across a run in both the first and the second before the Eagles threw out a runner at the plate and Chaunelle Penn forced a weak pop-up to escape a bases-loaded jam in the second.

The Eagles entered the top of the third down by two runs. They would leave it up by nine. Avila erupted for their most explosive inning of the season, scoring 11 runs on nine hits, to completely seize control of the game en route to a rout. The onslaught started early. Talley Cole led off the inning with a single and Chelsea Kurtz followed with a triple before scoring on a knock by Brooke Belflower. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Stephanie Hayes and Julia Douglass kept the line moving before Ka'Zem Wood tripled and scored to make it 7-2 Eagles.

They weren't done. Cole singled for the second time in the inning and ultimately scored on an error, and both Kurtz and Lara worked walks to set the stage for a three-run home run by Belflower, her team-leading sixth of the season, capping off the 11-run outburst for the Eagles.

And there was more where that came from. Avila loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth and the top of the order delivered again: Kurtz and Lara each drove in a run before Belflower drove in two more with a single, bringing her RBI total up to six in the game, the most by an Eagle this season. USM pushed across one run in the fifth to stop the bleeding, the only run Penn allowed over three innings of relief, but the damage was already done: Avila cruised to a 15-3 win in five innings to start conference play 2-0.

Up next, Avila softball will return to The Z for just its third true home doubleheader of the season, and their first of conference play, when the Eagles welcome the Sterling Warriors to Kansas City. First pitch is set for 1 PM; as always, you can watch all the action on the Avila Sports Network.