Conroe, TX (July 22, 2016) – The Dawgs are back home at the Scrap Yard against the Dallas Charge for a three-game series.
After a long two-week road trip, the Dawgs went right back to work at home against the Dallas Charge. The Charge had bases loaded in the first, but would go no further when Kiki Stokes made a diving catch in left field off the bat of Kaitlyn Richardson to keep Dallas scoreless. K. Stokes started the Dawgs offense as well, with a shot over the head of shortstop Renada Davis to reach first. Oregon State Alum Mikela Manewa followed suit with a hit up the middle, but the Dawgs could not manage to get a run across home.
The second, third, and fourth innings end scoreless as both teams battle to be the first on the board. In the top of the fifth, Dawgs pitcher Monica Abbott continued to work hard in the circle, getting Brianna Cherry to hit a slow roller at shortstop Madison Shipman for out number one. A strikeout to Ashley Burkhardt would put two away when Davis approached the plate, popping out to center fielder Emily Crane, making it a 1-2-3 inning for the Dawgs.
The Dawgs ignited in the bottom of the fifth with two outs. Crane reached first on a free pass, followed by a shot to right field from K. Stokes, allowing Crane to get to third with her wheels as Stokes dove into second. An intentional walk to Nerissa Myers, who came in for Manewa, loaded the bases for the Dawgs. A deep fly ball to right field just caught off the bat of Koerner would end the side.
The sixth inning heated up again for the Dawgs as Shipman and Taylore Fuller both reached first and second, respectively, on walks. But Charge pitcher Morgan Melloh sat down Lexi Overstreet to head to the seventh. Abbott was tremendous in the circle tonight for the Dawgs with nine (9) strikeouts and giving up just three (3) hits.
The Dawgs took seven free passes tonight from Melloh. With two runners on in the bottom of the seventh from back-to-back walks in Myers and Koerner, cleanup hitter Amanda Fama stepped into the box and, putting the pressure on the defense, hit a shot to third baseman Nadia Taylor, who overthrew first base, resulting in Myers scoring in walk-off fashion for the Dawgs (1-0).
