GALVESTON, Texas – Blinn College softball received a superb pitching performance from Colleen Bentke with a no-hitter to help the Buccaneers beat Baton Rouge Community College 9-0 in five innings Saturday afternoon at the Galveston College Invitational.
The Buccaneers couldn't keep the offense going in the tournament finale as Chipola College picked up the 6-0 win. Blinn ended the day 1-1 and finished up the first weekend of the season with a 2-3 record.
Blinn 9 – Baton Rouge 0
Plenty of run support and Bentke pitching a no-hitter was a great way for Blinn to earn a 9-0 victory over Baton Rouge in five innings.
Bentke pitched all five innings and struck out nine to earn her first victory of the season in the circle.
Katy Sawyer got the offense going with a home run and a single while knocking in three runs. Shelby Achille brought in two runs with a double and a single. Calli Birch, Abbie Olejniczak and Emily Noah each had an RBI in the win.
Blinn got started right away in the first inning when Nicole Garcia reached with a single and scored the first run on a single by Achille to center for a 1-0 lead. Sawyer followed that with a three-run home run to center two batters later for a 4-0 lead.
Gabriela Gomez kept the inning going with a single and then later scored after an RBI ground out by Olejniczak to make the score 5-0.
The Buccaneers kept rolling in the second inning as Kalli Edwards got the inning started with a single. Edwards came around to score on an RBI double by Achille to center for a 6-0 lead. Noah brought in the seventh run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Birch boosted the lead to 8-0 with a double to left to score Morgan Gray and Alyssa Hitt capped the scoring with an RBI single to left to make the score 9-0. That would be all the scoring needed as Bentke shut down Baton Rouge to earn the win in five innings.
Chipola 6 – Blinn 0
Blinn had a hard time getting any offense going and could only muster three hits in a 6-0 loss to Chipola to finish the tournament.
Amy Alexander managed to get two of the three total hits for Blinn, including a double while Garcia picked up a single but that would be it for the Buccaneers in the loss.
Chipola jumped out with three in the opening inning, one in the third and two more in the fifth to earn the six-run victory.
Blinn will have its first home games of the season on Feb. 3 against Howard College for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Hohlt Park.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 34 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
About Blinn College
With an enrollment of 19,422 students, Blinn ranks among the nation's leaders in transferring students to leading four-year universities and has received national recognition for affordable educational excellence. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu.
