Behind a stout performance from Maddi Evans and a robust offensive output from the team as a whole, the Trojans (1-0) opened the 2020 season on the right foot with a 10-1 drubbing of Benedictine University at Mesa on Thursday evening in Arizona.
Evans (1-0), after a strong finish to her freshman campaign a season ago, picked up right where she left off in her sophomore debut, pitching all seven innings and allowing just one unearned run, while striking out five in her fifth collegiate victory.
The Trojans racked up 11 hits in the contest, including three doubles, and their 10 runs were the most in a single game since scoring 12 against Huntington back on April 13, 2019.
Lauren Kanai and Taylor Wilson led TU’s offensive onslaught, as the duo combined for four hits, four runs batted in, and three runs scored. Ashton Whitman finished 2-for-4 with a run, while Emma West collected a pair of RBI in her Taylor debut. Evans helped her cause in the batter’s box as well, recording a pair of hits, while Erin Cozad and Caitlyn Grim each went 1-for-3 from the dish.
The Trojans amassed four hits in the top of the first inning as the bats got going early. After Kanai doubled to start the rally, back-to-back two-baggers from Wilson and Cozad gave Taylor an early 2-0 advantage. All three of Taylor’s extra bases hits came in the first inning, and both runs came with two outs on the board.
Benedictine (0-1) scored its lone run of the contest in the bottom half of the frame, but Evans proceeded to shut the door, giving up just three hits in the final six innings of play.
TU blew the contest wide open in the sixth inning, scoring five runs on three hits. After a Grim walk, a Whitman single, and a Kara Tucker hit by pitch loaded the bases, Grim scored on a wild pitch to open the scoring. West scored Whitman on an RBI groundout, Kanai followed with a two-run single, and Wilson capped off the frame with her second run-scoring knock.
Taylor added three more runs in the seventh inning to secure the nine-run triumph.
The Trojans built a 4-0 advantage in the second game of the doubleheader, but the contest was suspended in the top of the fourth. The game will be finished on Monday evening at 8 pm.
