View pictures from Wednesday’s games | https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallacestate/albums/72157719276365153
YUMA, ARIZ. – Wallace State’s softball team kept its season alive late Wednesday night, defeating Odessa College 10-2 in five innings at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I National Championship.
In a game that finished at 12:30 a.m. Central, the 5th-seeded Lions (55-5) rebounded at the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex after losing earlier in the day, 4-2, in extra innings to fourth-seeded Grayson (Texas) College.
Wallace State continues its national championship quest today, playing Yavapai (Ariz.) College, a No. 7 seed, at 6 p.m. Central. The Lions need to win twice today to advance to Friday’s round.
Against Odessa, Wallace State surged out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first behind a Brantly Bonds RBI double and a two-run single by Madisen Adams.
Andrea Harbin, a sophomore from Winfield, pushed the advantage to 4-0 in the second, cranking a solo home run to right field. It was the first homer for the Lions, who lead the nation in home runs (118).
Harbin later registered an inside-the-park homer in the fifth, giving her the rare distinction of collecting one blast over the fence and one within the lines. She was also hit by a pitch, scoring three runs.
Wallace State pushed its lead to 9-2 in the fourth, scoring four unearned runs with two outs. Gracie Benton and Maddie Cartron had consecutive RBI doubles in the frame.
Felicity Frame scored a run earlier in the game with a stolen base of home. She finished with three stolen bases.
Cartron joined Harbin with a multi-hit game.
Sophomore Haylee Folds tossed her second complete game in as many days for Wallace State, scattering two runs on five hits. She struck out four and walked one.
Odessa was an 11 seed.
In Wednesday’s opener, Grayson’s Hailey Vess broke an extra-inning tie with a two-run homer – the second round-tripper of the game for the Vikings, beating the Lions in a winner’s bracket game.
Wallace State scooted out to an early 1-0 in the first. Frame led off the inning with a triple and Jaiden Farnetti’s sacrifice fly drove her in.
Grayson tied the game at 1-all in the fourth on an RBI single by Vess.
The Vikings seized a 2-1 lead in sixth, but Wallace State answered in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out, RBI single by Morgan White, scoring Bonds.
Frame had a multiple-hit game for the Lions, including the triple. She added a stolen base.
Farnetti, Benton, Harbin and Erin Chambliss each added a single.
Raven Clark was the losing pitcher in relief. She gave up two runs on three hits in three innings.
Lefty Josie Thompson started and yielded a pair of runs and five hits in five innings. She recorded four strikeouts.
Wallace State softball is making its ACCC-best 13th appearance at the NJCAA National Championship and seeking a third national championship.
View all NJCAA Championship games at https://www.njcaa.org/network
For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit www.athletics.wallacestate.edu or the athletics Facebook page at www.wallacestate.edu/athleticsfb.
