Cowgirls use a late game grand slam to split with Black Hills State

Castle Rock, CO --- Paige Varni steps in to lead the Cowgirls to a split on the first day of double headers against Black Hills State in Castle Rock, CO.
 
In game 1, the Cowgirls would score their only 2 runs of the game early in the first as Taylor Fish would score Brooklynn DeLozier with a single through the right side before Samantha Gamboa would record her lone RBI of the game with a single to score Megan Gutierrez from third base.
 
It would be all Yellow Jackets from there as BHSU would go on to take game 1 6-2. Megan Gutierrez, Taylor Fish, Paige Varni and Tamia Yellowman would all record a hit for the Cowgirls in their efforts to make a comeback. Nathalie Blattmann received the start in the circle for the Cowgirls giving up 8 hits and 3 strikeouts.
 
That wouldn't stop the Cowgirls as a late game grand slam would help push the Cowgirls over Black Hills State in game 2.
 
"Overall, it was a good day" stated first year head softball coach Kevin Jannusch. "We got out of the gate quick. Unfortunately, the offense got stuck against their ace in game one, but our hitters bounced back to get a split".
 
The Cowgirls jumped on the Yellow Jackets early by putting up 5 runs on the first 2 innings. The Yellow Jackets would respond with 2 runs in the 3^rd before Megan Gutierrez would bring in Camrynn Ziegler to give the Cowgirls a 6-2 advantage after 4 innings.
 
The 5^th inning would belong to the Yellow Jackets as they would manage 6 runs as two of the Cowgirls three errors would help with that.
 
With the Cowgirls trailing by 2 runs in the last inning of play, freshman Paige Varni stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded to smack a grand slam over left center, to give the Cowgirls a 10-6 advantage over BHSU.
 
"Obviously Paige had a very big day for the first double header of her college career" Jannusch stated about Varni's heroic performance. "I told her to make it special. She was confident and ready for the moment. I think one tough inning in the circle overshadowed her pitching debut. We didn't help her defensively in the 5^th inning and she gave up a couple of untimely hits. But, she had three innings of quick work. Definitely something to build off of."
 
Brooklynn DeLozier would score Ziegler with a single through the left side to set up a Gutierrez home run to give NMHU a 13-8 lead.
 
"This team has waited a year to compete" stated Jannusch. "I was happy that they bounced back after dropping the first one. We jumped out to a quick lead and were able to mount a rally of our own after they slipped ahead of us late."
 
The Yellow Jackets would score 2 runs on the bottom of the 7^th as the Cowgirls would take the win in game 2 with a final score of 13-10.
 
 Varni also pitched a complete game for the Cowgirls giving up 9 hits, 4 earned runs, and striking out 6 Yellow Jackets in game 2 with her grand slam being her solo hit of the game. Ziegler went 4 for 5 from the plate with a double and an RBI while Megan Gutierrez added 3 hits and 5 RBIs. Catcher Carlee Gonzalez played well behind the plate and finished with 3 hits, 1 double and 1 RBI.
 
The Cowgirls will continue the series against Black Hills State today with a double header scheduled to start at 12 pm. The games will be streamed on the New Mexico Highlands Softball Facebook page.