CSN overpowers Wildcats in twin-bill

Leah Wentworth didn’t pull any punches.

“We’ve been a little inconsistent about our level of play,” Wentworth said after her Wildcats were swept by College of Southern Nevada. “The second game we were a little better. We made them earn their runs.

“The longball really beat us today. They are really a good-hitting team, and then to have the wind blowing out ... When I checked the stats, they had two or three girls who had 14 homers. We have to work on keeping the ball down.”

College of Southern Nevada slugged seven homers en route to 15-5 and 14-5 wins over the Wildcats on Friday afternoon at Edmonds Sports Complex. The sweep dropped WNC to 9-35 in Scenic West Athletic Conference play and 12-41 overall. CSN improved to 28-17 in SWAC play.

The teams conclude the regular season with a doubleheader today starting at noon. WNC will honor its senior players.

To make matters worse, this could be a preview of next week’s first-round playoff game at College of Southern Idaho. The Wildcats, who will finish sixth in the regular season, will draw either CSN or North Idaho in the opener. WNC has not had much success against either team this year.

“We need to be more consistent (offensively),” Wentworth said. “In some games we’ve had a couple of good innings, and then we have three up and three down innings. We need to keep putting pressure on them (CSN) or anybody we play. We have to find a way to get runs every inning. We have to find a way to put pressure on them.”

The way to that is to get baserunners aboard. In the opener, the Wildcats were quiet until they scored four in the fifth. In the nightcap, they were quiet after scoring four in the first. The other eight at-bats over two games were nothing to write home about. WNC managed just 12 hits in the two games.

The Wildcats led for two innings the entire day — the first two innings of the second game.

WNC scored four times in the first against Aly Lamboo.

Madi Gonzalez walked, was sacrificed to second by Katelyn Bomar, moved to third on a single by Katilyn Covione and scored when Andi Lee hit a shot to right. Lee was thrown out on a close play at first, but Gonzalez scored. Jenny Rechel doubled home Covione, Heather Septon singled home Rechel and ex-Carson star Lindsey Ashbaugh doubled home Septon, which ended Lamboo’s day. Nicole Lesniak came on to strike out Meghan Hospodka to end the threat.

CSN cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the second when Taylor O’Connor hit a two-out three-run homer off Ashbaugh.

WNC nicked Lesniak for a run in the bottom of the second on a one-out single by Covione. Lee followed with a liner right at CSN shorstop Mikela Manewa, who doubled Bomar off at third to end the inning.

After that it was all CSN. The Coyotes scored four in the fourth and six in the fifth. O’Connor’s two-run homer was the key blow in the fifth, while Sarina Crewell hit a three-run homer in the sixth and Ariel Frantz added a two-run shot, both in the sixth.

Lesniak, meanwhile, retired the last 10 batters she faced.

In the opener, CSN took a quick 1-0 lead only to see WNC tie the game on Rechel’s two-out single.

Creswell’s two-run homer off Carlee Beck highlighted a five-run second, and Tiana Hensley hit a three-run bomb in the third to make it 9-1. Manewa hit a three-run homer in the fifth as CSN extended the lead to 15-1.

After three straight 1-2-3 innings, WNC broke loose in its final at-bat of the opener.

Ashbaugh singled, advanced when Meghan Hospodka’s ball was dropped and scored on a double by Makenzie Hospodka. Gonzalez drove in a run with a single and Covione blasted a two-run homer for WNC’s final runs of the game.