(25) Ottawa Tops (RV) Avila in Heavyweight Matchup

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In a matchup that featured the KCAC's preseason top team pitted against the KCAC's current top team, (25) Ottawa (27-11, 11-3 KCAC) earned a pair of important wins over (RV) Avila (24-12, 11-3 KCAC), winning game one comfortably before hanging on for an extra-innings victory in game two on Wednesday afternoon at The Z.

Avila and Ottawa have played a lot of important games over the last few years, and these were certainly no exception. Ottawa were the preseason league favorites after winning the regular season yet again last year, and Avila was the unquestioned top team in the conference at 11-1 going into Wednesday. The Braves were ranked just inside the national Top 25, dropping two spots from No. 23 to No. 25 just before the games kicked off, and the Eagles are just outside the Top 25, maintaining their national status for the second straight poll.

In the end, however, despite a roster of almost entirely new featured players, the Braves proved they are still one of the teams to beat in the KCAC this season while the Eagles learned they still have some work to do as the conference season officially enters its second half. These two teams are still both certain postseason teams and likely to be top four seeds at the KCAC Tournament in one month's time, but Wednesday's games proved that there is a lot still to be determined in the greater league picture over the last four weeks of the season.

The Eagles were the first team on the board in both games and actually out-hit Ottawa on the day, but the Braves executed in a lot of different areas and were more consistent in getting runners on base, moving them up, and bringing them in than the Eagles were over the course of the games.

Game one looked ticketed to be a true pitcher's duel between staff aces Ashlynn Mercer and McKayla Cotton, but after the Eagles struck in the first inning off Mercer they could not score off her again until the last inning, and by that point the Ottawa offense had come through in the middle innings off Cotton. Chelsea Kurtz did her thing to score the first run of the game, reaching, stealing second, advancing on a sacrifice, and scoring on a sac fly from Brooke Belflower to give the Eagles an early 1-0 lead off Mercer.

But the Braves, who threatened in the first inning but didn't score, did not miss many chances the rest of the way in an extremely unconventional game. Nine-hole hitter Rachel Pederson blasted her first home run of the year in the second inning to give the Braves a 3-1 lead; five-hole hitter Reagan Hammons beat out a bunt single to drive in a run in the third; and Ottawa then scratched across two unearned runs in the fourth. Just like that, the visitors had a 7-1 lead, Avila's largest deficit in league play this season.

Madyson Withey and Aarilynn Richardson combined for three scoreless innings of relief out of the bullpen and Hallie Campbell caught leadoff hitter Macy Roever stealing twice to give the Eagles a fighting chance, but the Avila offense could not break through against Mercer. The Eagles threatened constantly, and left at least one runner on base in literally every inning, but could not score again until the seventh inning when Ka'Zem Wood smoked a single to drive in Maya Richards and make it 7-2. The Eagles threatened to get even closer with two runners aboard in the inning, but Mercer got Montana Stangel to fly out to deep center where Roever hustled back to make the catch and wrap up a victory for the visitors.

Game two was much more in line with the high expectations placed on the series by both squads: back and forth action, clutch hits and pitches from both sides, a late Eagle rally to force extras, and then another near-rally from the Eagles that came up just short. The Eagles once again struck first off new Ottawa #2 pitcher Madison Carney thanks to a leadoff triple from Kurtz and an immediate RBI knock from Wood, but the Braves pushed ahead with single runs in the second, fourth, and fifth to build a 3-1 lead.

After allowing a leadoff single to Kurtz in the third, Carney got into a groove, retiring nine Eagles in a row until Wood snapped that in a big way with a leadoff double in the sixth. After an error at shortstop, the Eagles quickly built up a big inning, with Campbell driving in Stangel and Cotton driving in pinch-runner Kelly Kight to tie the game at three.

Cotton returned to the circle and tossed a scoreless seventh, and Richards led off the home half with a pinch-hit single but was stranded on third base, sending the game into the eighth inning. With the international tiebreaker rules in effect and a ghost runner placed on second, both teams took full advantage of the opportunities to do some serious damage. Back-to-back doubles hit by Nayely Delgado and Morgan Bradford off Cotton drove in a total of three runs before Katie Wentworth made a critical double play turn at third to get the Eagles through the inning down by three.

Carney returned the start the inning for the Braves, and the Eagles, facing the possibility of a sweep, came out swinging. With two outs, Campbell hit a double to plate Wood and Cotton singled, giving the Eagles first and third, and finally forcing Carney from the game. Ottawa inserted bullpen stopped Loralei Gilbert, and she promptly gave up a run-scoring hit to Julia Douglass, bringing the Eagles within one. With the winning run now on base, Wentworth blasted a liner off Gilbert, but Ottawa shortstop Megan Kennedy made the play to put out the flames and seal up a 6-5 win and a doubleheader sweep for Ottawa.

The Eagles will now have to move on in a hurry, because plenty of other solid league squads are lying in wait next. Up first, Avila will travel to McPherson for a doubleheader this Saturday, April 6; start times have changed a few times, but the doubleheader is currently scheduled to start at noon. As always, you can watch all the action on the KCAC Network.