ST. GEORGE — The No. 2-ranked Dixie State softball team snatched victory from the jaws of defeat not once, but twice on Saturday at the Canyons Softball Complex.
The Red Storm (7-3) scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning en route to a 9-7 victory over Montana State-Billings and later stunned Western Washington with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eight inning for a 4-3 win.
GAME 1
Montana State-Billings jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first game of the day after the Yellowjackets scored one run in the bottom of the second and another four runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Dixie State responded with three runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 4-3 when Shelby Yung singled, scoring Janessa Bassett and Josey Hartman. Yung later scored when Dani Bartholf singled to left field.
Unfazed by the DSU rally, MSUB wasted no time adding to the lead. The Yellowjackets pushed two more runs across in the bottom of the fifth inning and seemed poised to complete the victory.
But the tide turned when Mallory Paulson, leading off the seventh inning for DSU, fouled off pitch after pitch with a full count and eventually drew a walk. The textbook at-bat set the tone for the inning as Kristie Johnson later blasted a three-run home run, and the Storm pushed three more run across to build a 9-7 lead they would not relinquish.
Bassett and Hartman led DSU and both went 3 for 4, while Madi Dove earned her first victory of the season in the pitcher’s circle, taking over for Brooklyn Beardshear in the second inning.
GAME 2
The second game of the day started in a much less ominous fashion for Dixie State as the Red Storm took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Bartholf singled, scoring Bassett.
The lead would hold until the sixth inning, when Western Washington scored three runs on an RBI single and a two-run home run. Heading to the bottom of the sixth inning, the Storm again seemed destined for a loss.
But, like the first game, DSU refused to go down, this time scoring one run each in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the game at 3-3, setting up the game-winning home run for Paulson in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Paulson and Autumn Woodfall led the Storm offensively in Game 2, going 2 for 3. Aryn Feickert pitched another complete game, striking out seven WWU batters and earning her fourth victory of the season.
The Storm wrap up the weekend with two games on Sunday at Karl Brooks Field. DSU will take on Western New Mexico at 10 a.m. and Western Oregon at 12:30 p.m.
Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Aryn Feickert (7), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Mallory Paulson (24), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Josey Hartman (15), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Janessa Bassett (1), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Dani Bartholf (2), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Janessa Bassett (1), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Autumn Woodfall (00), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Autumn Woodfall (00), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Mallory Paulson (24), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Mallory Paulson (24), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Cassidy Morton (14), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Janessa Bassett (1), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Kristie Johnson (16), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Dani Bartholf (2), Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News Dixie State's Dani Bartholf (2) starts a double play, Dixie State University vs. Western Washington University, Softball, St. George, Utah, Feb. 13, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
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