GREAT FALLS, Mont. – After shutting out Northwest yesterday, the University of Providence softball team split their doubleheader with them on Saturday. It was a tale of two games, as the Argos (4-19, 4-14) defeated the Eagles (4-22, 3-15) 16-4 in the first game before falling 17-4 in the second game.
The early win marked a series win for the Argos, which the coaching staff hopes marks a turning point on the season.
"It's awesome," head coach
Joey Egan said. "We really needed to win this series. The third one would have been great. If we can build on this the rest of the year that would be great for our program. There are quite a few teams hovering around in the standings. If we can continue and keep growing, I think we can make it to the conference tournament."
The Argos continued Friday's dominance in the first game, scoring runs in the first four innings to get a jump on the Eagles. Defensively,
KJ Schweikert pitched a solid game, striking out two runners and only allowing one hit in the win. The team ended up winning 16-4.
After a dominant performance in the first game, the Argos came out flat in the second game. The team got behind early, allowing a total of nine runs in the first two innings. The Argos never recovered, falling 17-4.
"We got complacent," Egan said. "We took that third game for granted. We thought we could just show up and just get through it instead of fighting tooth and nail through every hit."
Despite the disappointment of the final game, the coaching staff was pleased with the on-field improvement the team showed.
"This weekend we really improved our hitting," Egan said. "Their plate approaches and confidence was really excellent. We threw a lot of live pitches at them this week and I think that really helped. Hitting as well as we did gave confidence to our pitchers and our defense. When you're padding your runs you throw better and you don't have to fight from behind."
The Argos will hope to use some of the momentum this weekend against Warner Pacific. The Argos, currently ninth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings, are only two games behind the Knights (13-18, 6-13). With three series left to play on the season, these upcoming games are critical.
"We can't overlook anybody," Egan said. "We can't get complacent. Everybody in this conference can beat everybody, that's just the game of softball. We have to push forward and get stronger every inning."
