College of Idaho softball coach Al Mendiola talks with members of the team between games against Baker (Kan.) at the NAIA Tournament Opening Round on Wednesday in Baldwin City, Kan.
College of Idaho Katelyn Wilfert delivers a two-run hit during the first game against Baker (Kan.) on Wednesday at the NAIA Tournament Opening Round in Baldwin City, Kan.
College of Idaho softball coach Al Mendiola talks with members of the team between games against Baker (Kan.) at the NAIA Tournament Opening Round on Wednesday in Baldwin City, Kan.
Baker University Photo
College of Idaho Katelyn Wilfert delivers a two-run hit during the first game against Baker (Kan.) on Wednesday at the NAIA Tournament Opening Round in Baldwin City, Kan.
Kaily Christensen was inches away from powering the College of Idaho softball team to the NAIA World Series on Wednesday, but a leaping catch by Parker Straight at the warning track prevented the walkoff home run and gave Baker (Kan.) a 5-3 win in the championship game of the Opening Round bracket in Baldwin City, Kansas.
The College of Idaho (49-10) ends its season one game short of its second World Series trip in three years after a record-breaking season which saw the Yotes break the program record for most wins in a season.
The Yotes forced a winner-take-all game by beating Baker 4-2 earlier in the day and had a chance to win it when Christensen stepped to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second. She took a 1-2 pitch deep into centerfield seemingly over the head of Straight. Straight had to jump to catch the ball behind her for the third out. Had she not been able to catch the ball, it would have likely at least scored the two runners on base, if not gone over the wall for a three-run home run.
Tanner Higgins had a three-run home run for the College of Idaho in the bottom of the third inning, taking a 3-1 lead, but the Wildcats took the lead back with three runs in the fifth inning, then made it a two-run game with a solo home run in the sixth.
Haley Loffer led off the top of the seventh inning for the Yotes by drawing a walk and after a popup and strikeout, Higgins had a single to bring the potential winning run to the plate.
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Hannah McNerney was charged with the loss in the circle after pitching all seven innings, striking out five.
The Yotes forced the decisive game thanks in large part to a combined three-hitter by Katelyn Wilfert and McNerney against the Wildcats earlier in the day. Wilfert pitched six innings, striking out four, while McNerney in in the seventh inning with runners on first and second and the Yotes leading 4-1 and no outs.
Baker scored a run on a fielder’s choice, but McNerney had a strikeout on each side of that to end the game.
Madelyn Powell had two RBIs, including a solo home run in the second inning and Wilfert drove in a pair of runs for the Yotes in the fourth inning.
