McCraw’s shutout helps Weber State softball split series at Colorado State
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- Weber State pitcher Cali McCraw (21) speaks with catcher Eva Richardson during a series against Colorado State on March 8-9 in Fort Collins, Colo.
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- Weber State’s Olivia Birkinshaw rounds the bases against Colorado State during a series March 8-9 in Fort Collins, Colo.
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- A Weber State softball player celebrates at third base during a series against Colorado State on March 8-9 in Fort Collins, Colo.
Weber State softball split a series of four well-contested games over the weekend at Colorado State, resulting in player of the week honors for two Wildcats.
Senior pitcher Cali McCraw was named Big Sky pitcher of the week after throwing a complete-game shutout to end the series, while senior infielder Abby Grundy got the league’s position player of the week honors.
The Wildcats capped the series Sunday afternoon with a 1-0 victory. McCraw allowed four hits, striking out two over seven innings in the win. Taegan Smith singled in Tori Rey in the third inning for the game’s lone, deciding run.
Grundy batted 5 for 10 in the series, driving in five runs.
WSU’s other win came in Saturday’s second game, a 9-7 victory. Olivia Birkinshaw hit a two-run homer in the first inning but the Wildcats eventually trailed 7-3 after four innings.
Freshman Sadie Kirk got the Wildcats going again with a three-run homer in the fifth. Eva Richardson knotted the game 7-7 with an RBI double.
Freshman Apollonia Maldonado pushed across the final runs with sacrifice flies to score Grundy in the fifth and seventh innings.
Grundy drove in four runs in the series opener Saturday morning, one from a double and one on a three-RBI single. Richardson doubled and hit a two-run homer, but WSU lost 11-7.
The Wildcats fell in a 7-6 walk-off in Sunday’s first game. A grand slam helped CSU exit the first inning with a 6-0 lead. WSU pulled it to 6-6 over the third, fourth and fifth innings, keyed by Riley Whalen hitting an RBI triple and scoring on a wild pitch.
But in the bottom of the seventh, CSU’s Autumn Rutherford led off with a double, stole third and beat a play at the plate to score the winning run.
Weber State (8-16) next plays a five-game event at Saint Mary’s in California. The Wildcats will play the host twice, as well as Columbia, Harvard and Santa Clara once.
