USD softball finishes 3-2 in Santa Clara

The Coyotes softball team (5-7) traveled to Santa Clara, California to take part in the Santa Clara Tournament Friday through Sunday.

With a 2-5 record entering the weekend, the Coyotes were looking to gain a winning record after playing five games in the three-day span.

The Coyotes played against Creighton during the first, but it didn’t last long.

The Coyotes drove 19 hits in just five innings of play, taking the win with a score of 20-6.

Junior second baseman Taylor Steinfeldt hit a solo home run as part of her 3-for-3 game, and sophomore third baseman Jamie Holscher also contributed to the big win with a three-run double in the third inning.

“We are seeing a lot of the hard work that we put in during the offseason pay off early instead of later in the season, like it did last season,” Steinfeldt said.

In the second game of the first day, the Coyotes had a much different approach to their win.

The Coyotes took down Illinois-Chicago in a defensive matchup by a score of just 1-0.

Senior pitcher Rachel Cue lead the way for the Coyotes by pitching and ultimately earning the win in both games on the first day.

After pitching just over two innings of relief in the game against Creighton, Cue pitched a seven-hit shutout against Illinois-Chicago, with all of the hits allowed on the day being just singles.

On the second day of the tournament, the Coyotes first took on Weber State.

After allowing a run in the first inning, the Coyotes quickly took the lead back by scoring off of a walk with the bases loaded, followed by a single by freshman left fielder Camille Fowler to make the score 2-1.

Sophomore right fielder Morgan Vasa grounded out with full bases to bring home another run and bring the lead to 3-1 in the second inning.

Weber State chipped away at the Coyote lead by scoring one in the fourth inning, and three in the fifth inning.

The Wildcats’ comeback proved to be too much, as the Coyotes only posted one more run in the seventh inning, falling by a final score of 4-6.

In the second matchup of day two, the Coyotes took on the host Santa Clara and came out of the gate swinging.

The Coyotes posted three runs in the first inning against the Broncos on a fielder’s choice/error hit by senior shortstop Shelby Keil, followed by a Steinfeldt RBI single.

The Broncos quickly responded over the next two innings by hitting a sacrifice fly in the second inning and another in the third inning, followed by a RBI single.

After a defensive couple of innings, the Coyotes brought home three runs in the sixth inning off of an error, single and a sacrifice fly.

The Coyotes held on to the win despite giving up a run in the seventh inning, by a final score of 6-4.

The conclusion of the tournament came with the Coyotes taking on Illinois-Chicago for the second time.

This time around, the game didn’t fall in the Coyotes’ favor. They posted just two runs on three hits, with five errors.

Senior first baseman Kayla Fields and Steinfeldt had the RBI’s for the Coyotes, with both coming in the second inning.

Coyotes head coach Robert Wagner said it was nice to come out of the tournament with a winning record.

“It was nice to get some wins and come out of there with a winning record,” Wagner said. “I feel like if we were completely healthy and played a little cleaner we could’ve won some more games, but 3-2 was a good start.”

USD will travel to Florida next weekend at the Hatter Classic hosted by Stetson.