Box Score TEMPE, Ariz. – Junior Kendall Duffy (Naperville, Ill./Benet Academy) continued her hot hitting, going 2-for-2 with a RBI, but Seattle slugged 13 hits, including six for extra bases as the Redhawks topped Bradley 11-3 in five innings Saturday afternoon at the Kajikawa Classic.
After a 4-for-7 day at the plate to open the season Friday, Duffy collected two of Bradley's five hits against Seattle and drove in her third run in as many games to highlight the day for the Braves.
Bradley (1-2 overall) struck first, taking advantage of a Kelly Kapp (Freeburg, Ill./Gilbault Catholic) bunt single to open the game. Kapp stole second and after moving to third on a groundout, scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Caitlyn McCarron (Dallas, Ore./Dallas) to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead.
A Bradley error and three Seattle hits in the bottom half of the inning led to five runs for the Redhawks, however. Two walks and an error tied the game at 1-1 and Kayla Shuster-Gonzales put Seattle in front (2-1) with a RBI single. A double steal added another run and a bases loaded single from Jennifer Sweet made it 4-1 in favor of the Redhawks. Breanna Timmons capped the five-run inning with a sacrifice fly to give Seattle a 5-1 lead.
Duffy had a two-out triple in the top of the second, but the Braves couldn't drive her home and Seattle tacked on two more runs in the bottom half of the frame on a Shuster-Gonzales two-run homer to build a 7-1 advantage.
Isabella Geronimo added a RBI single in the bottom of the third to push the Seattle lead to 8-1, before Bradley struck for a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. The Braves had runners at second and third with two outs after a walk, error and passed ball. Both runners came home on Duffy's second hit of the game and team-best sixth hit of the season as Bradley pulled within five runs at 8-3.
A solo homer by Shoster-Gonzales in the bottom of the fourth made it 9-3 in favor of Seattle and the Redhawks added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to close out the 11-3 victory. Richelle Ashburn had a pinch hit RBI single in the fifth and Lisa Maulden ended the game with a bases loaded walk-off single as Seattle evened its record at 2-2 with the win.
Junior Amanda Barna (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) took the loss in the circle for the Braves, dropping to 0-1 on the year. Mandie Sugita picked up the win for Seattle to improve to 1-1. Sugita struck out four and walked one in the victory.
Bradley continues play at the Kajikawa Classic Saturday afternoon with a 3 p.m. (CST) game against Stanford in Tempe, Ariz.