Maher leads Bearcats to 2-game sweep
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Northwest sophomore shortstop Rebecca Maher went 4-for-8 on Tuesday across two games, helping the Bearcats come up with a two-game sweep against William Jewell.
Ryan Anderson says he could see it coming last year, his Northwest softball team turning the corner and elevating its game to the next level.
With Tuesday’s two-game sweep over William Jewell — a pair of walkoff wins, at that, 1-0 and 6-5 — the Bearcats are out to a 15-3 start, the best overall record in the MIAA. Behind sophomore shortstop Rebecca Maher, Northwest escaped with its two victories against the Cardinals on Tuesday as she went 4-for-8 with four RBI and three doubles on the day.
“Last year, once we actually got to play, we played like this,” Anderson said. “We saw glimpses of it last year. The first month-and-a-half of the season, it seemed like we had every other weekend canceled. We just couldn’t get in rhythm. We saw glimpses of it last year, so hopefully it keeps rolling.”
All three of Maher’s doubles came in game two, knotting the program record for doubles in a game — her own record, actually, one that she tied with three other players in her first game with the Bearcats in 2015.
Her final double of the afternoon came in the bottom of the seventh inning with Northwest trailing, 5-4. The drive down the right-field line advanced freshman right fielder Jaedra Moses to third and set up freshman first baseman Alexis Kelsey for a walkoff, two-run single to end the day.
“That was really frustrating the first game, we just couldn’t string anything together,” Anderson said. “We had back-to-back innings with zero or one outs and we couldn’t score. We pushed one across in the eighth inning and the second game was kind of the same way. … We’ve got to find a way to hit.”
That two-run seventh inning to finish Northwest’s sweep came on the heels of a 1-0 win in the first contest, a victory that saw the game squared away at 0-0 heading to extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Maher swatted a single up the middle that scored Moses.
But while the Bearcats’ offense sputtered for the first seven innings of game one, senior pitcher Kendle Schieber sparkled. She spun eight innings of shutout ball with 12 strikeouts and just five hits allowed to pick up her seventh win of the season.
“It’s nice to rely on your pitchers when the offense isn’t there,” Anderson said. “All first game, Kendle throws great. They get a couple hits here and there, we don’t, and Kendle keeps us in the game. That’s what really you hope your pitchers do, just give us a chance to win.”
Through 12 appearances and nine starts, Schieber is 7-2 with a shiny 1.92 ERA, good for fourth in the conference.
Last season as a junior, Schieber went 12-8 with a 2.46 ERA. Her improvement this season has provided a major boost to the Bearcats’ early-season surge.
“It just seems like we’ve kind of figured things out with her,” Anderson said. “ … It just took us a while to figure her out, even last year. Toward the end of the year, we were clicking with her.”
With the score tied up at 1-1 heading to the fourth inning of game two, the Cardinals rallied for four runs off Northwest senior pitcher Sarah Baldwin. Baldwin lasted just 3.2 innings while allowing eight hits and five runs, four of which were earned, after spinning a five-inning perfect game on Saturday against Northeastern State.
Freshman Rachel Smith relieved Baldwin for the final out of the fourth inning to escape danger and wound up tossing 3.1 innings of shutout ball while allowing just one hit. Her relief efforts allowed the Bearcats to march back in the late innings.
“(Smith) came in with runners on, threw a strikeout, got out of the inning,” Anderson said. “She had one, maybe two baserunners the last three innings. She threw well and that’s what we’ve got to have.”
And march back the Bearcats did, scoring three runs in the fifth inning on a two-run double from Maher and an RBI single from sophomore catcher Jessica Rawie.
In the seventh inning, with one run needed to send the game to extras and two necessary to put an end to the game right then and there, Moses, Maher and Kelsey delivered.
That clutch hitting boosts Northwest to 15-3 on the year with a 3-1 MIAA record as the team prepares for a busy intra-conference weekend. The Bearcats will face Southwest Baptist at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday in Bolivar before taking on Central Missouri at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday in Warrensburg.
Despite the strong start to the year, Anderson sees where his Bearcats can gain ground offensively. As exciting as walkoff wins can be, he’d surely prefer not to need those late runs.
“You hope somebody gets hot. If somebody can get hot, it sparks other people,” Anderson said. “That’s what you hope for, somebody to start a fire and just keep it going. We’re kind of sporadic right now. … If we do (hit better) the pitchers will get some relief. We won’t have to throw shutouts to win games, and we can start scoring runs.”
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
William Jewell freshman Ellie Ottensmeyer is tagged out at home by Northwest sophomore catcher Jessica Rawie as the Bearcats won both games Tuesday, 1-0 and 6-5.
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Senior pitcher Sarah Baldwin launches a first-inning pith against William Jewell on Tuesday during game two of a two-game Northwest sweep.
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Bearcats freshman first baseman Alexis Kelsey swings away against William Jewell during a two-game sweep on Tuesday, 1-0 and 6-5.
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Before firing to first base, Northwest junior third baseman Chantel Adams fields a grounder and checks the runner on Tuesday. The Bearcats defeated William Jewell in both games of a doubleheader, 1-0 and 6-5.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Rebecca Maher, Northwest’s sophomore shortstop, tries to turn a double play against William Jewell on Tuesday. The Bearcats won both games, 1-0 and 6-5.
