Kansas City Softball Wins Series Over Western Illinois

Sunday, April 23

Macomb, IL

12:00 PM

Kansas City

8-37, 3-12

Western Illinois

9-30, 3-9

Kansas City

Western Illinois

Photo by: Ryan Weaver Photography

Kansas City Softball Wins Series Over Western Illinois

4/23/2023 3:15:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

The Roos put up a dominant win in game three over the Leathernecks to claim their first Summit League Series

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City (8– 37, 3 – 12) took the series win with a dominant victory over Western Illinois (9 – 30, 3 – 9). The Roos got started early with back-to-back singles in the first inning, but the Leathernecks made it to the scoreboard first, going up 4-0 in the bottom of the first. After fighting back, Kansas City took over the lead in the fourth inning and broke open scoring in the fifth. The Roos played a tight game, with no errors compared to the Leatherneck's four.

Camryn Stickel went into the circle in the second inning and proved to be an essential piece for the Roos. Stickel earned two crucial strikeouts for the Roos, one in the third inning and another in the fifth notching the final out with the bases loaded on both occasions. Ally Vonfeldt led Kansas City at-bat with three hits on the day. Six other Roos documented two hits each.

KEY MOMENTS

Top 1 / 0-0| Kiki McCrea and Katherine Karnatz got to work early, each hitting a single to put Kansas City in scoring position. Katie Noble reached first on an error to load the bases, but with two outs the Roos were unable to score. Western Illinois came out swinging with three singles, a double and a triple earning four runs.
Top 2/ 1-4| Lexy Smith hit a single up the middle to open the inning but was called out at second on the following play — a fielder's choice from Lauren Parker. An Ally Vonfeldt single advanced Parker to scoring position and a single from McCrea allowed Parker to cross home plate.
Top 3/ 3-4| The Roos started the inning with two outs, one popped up and another off a fielder's choice. Singles from Katie Sutton and Lexy Smith pushed Kansas City into scoring position. Nichols batted in Sutton with a single up the middle and Marina Karnes, pinch-hitting, was walked to load the bases. The Roos went back to the top of the batting line up and Vonfeldt singled one to shortstop and allowed Smith to score. The Leathernecks got their third out to close the at-bat.
Top 4/ 5-4| An error allowed Karnatz to reach first and a double to right field from Fitzgerald sent her home, giving Kansas City its tying run. A single from Katie Noble pushed Fitzgerald into scoring position. Smith takes the out at first with a sac hit to send Fitzgerald home and put Kansas City in the lead.
Top 5/ 8-4| Karnes and Vonfeldt make it on base with an error and walk respectively. Taylor Kvale pinch hits for McCrea, hitting a bunt to load the bases. A Karnatz fielder's choice allows the Leathernecks to pick off Karnes at home. Fitzgerald earns her second hit of the day with a single to left field that allows Vonfeldt to score but catches Kvale out at the plate. Noble singled down the left and Karnatz scored on the play. Espy Daniels was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Smith, the next batter up, was hit by another to bring in a run. Western Illinois got its third out to close the at-bat.
Bottom 5/ 8-4| Stickel got the Roos out of another sticky situation, with a strikeout to close the inning with the bases loaded.
Top 6/ 10-4| Karnes nailed a triple to open the inning; Vonfeldt batted her in with a double and Kvale hit a single that allowed Vonfeldt to cross home plate.
Bottom 7/ 10-4| Stickel got her second three up, three down of the day to close the game.

STATS TO NOTE

Along with Kansas City's first in-conference series win, this was the Roos' largest margin of victory in a non-shutout game.
Kansas City saw a season-high 40 at-bats, along with a season high tying ten RBIs.
Sophomore Karnes earned her first-career triple, crossing home on a Vonfeldt double to add to Kansas City's score.
Earning three hits today, Vonfeldt leads the Roos with 12 multi-hit games. She has earned three or more hits in four games.
The Roos earned 17 hits, which is the most hits they have earned in a game this season. The next highest-hitting game was 12 hits in the first game of the series.

UP NEXT
The Roos return home to take on South Dakota State which currently leads the Summit League. The series opens Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 12:00 p.m.