Thursday night was long for the CSU-Pueblo softball team. Their van broke down 80 miles outside of Kearney, Neb. Thursday, forcing them to forego their scheduled Thursday night game and sit idle for around eight hours waiting for the van to get serviced.
Friday, it was obvious what the Pack did with all that down time – prepare.
The ThunderWolves came in for a triple-header at Kearney Friday, and promptly disposed of the Lopers in what could only be described as complete domination. The ThunderWolves claimed three straight wins, outscoring Kearney 25-6 in the process.
The story for the Pack was a rosy one – extremely strong pitching and timely hitting allowed the ThunderWolves to never trail the Lopers in either of the three games.
The Pack employed the strategy of getting the most out of their top two pitchers, Kelsey Swanberg and Amber Higby. Swanberg had got the start in the first two games, with a scheduled switch midway through the second game to Higby, who would take care of the rest of the day’s softball.
Swanberg tossed 10 innings and allowed only three runs on six hits, striking out 10 in the process and earning the win in each game.
Higby brought up the rear and was just as dominant, also throwing 10 innings and allowing just three runs, only one of which was earned. Higby struck out three and only walked two batters.
At the plate, everybody seemed to get into the mix, but catcher Bo Nuanez took the biggest chunk out of the Lopers. Nuanez walloped a two-run shot in a three RBI performance in game one, and finished the day with a team-high five RBIs.
The Pack will look to score the sweep of the Lopers tomorrow, as the two teams will make an attempt to play a game tomorrow, weather-permitting. Final decisions had not been made regarding game times.