BRANSON, Mo. – Ella Schouten went the distance and Laken Aidich delivered a decisive pinch-hit, three-run double in a five-run sixth inning as the No. 3-seeded Columbia College softball team knocked off No. 2-seeded Cottey College 8-1 on Wednesday at the Branson Rec Plex in the second round of the American Midwest Conference Softball Tournament. The Cougars improve to 25-13 overall and advance in the winners bracket.
Schouten was sharp from the opening frame, retiring Cottey in order in three of the first four innings and limiting the Comets to just one earned run. The graduate pitcher finished with eight strikeouts and one walk in a complete-game effort on 112 pitches, improving her season record to 13-5.
Columbia struck first in the top of the first. Abigail Zismer and Taryn Hagardt led off with back-to-back singles and, after a fielder's choice put runners at second and third, Cassidy Avery lined an RBI single up the middle to plate Hagardt and put the Cougars in front 1-0.
The Cougars doubled their lead with two unearned runs in the fourth. Avery opened with a double to right-center and Kennedy Schanuth followed with a double to center, with Schanuth later scoring and Avery coming home on a throwing error by the Cottey catcher.
Cottey answered in the fifth when pinch hitter Ciara Mennitto laced a two-out RBI double up the middle to score Grayce Taylor and cut it to 3-1, but the Cougars responded with their biggest inning of the game in the sixth.
Wriley Taylor led off with a single and advanced on a wild pitch. After Schanuth reached on a single and stole second, Sophia Angel dropped down a perfectly placed bunt RBI to make it 4-1. Kylee Page then doubled to left to score Schanuth, and after a walk loaded the bases, Aidich stepped in as a pinch hitter and drove a three-run double to left-center — clearing the bases and chasing Cottey starter Addison Tippie — to push the lead to 7-1. An eighth run scored later in the frame to cap the five-run outburst.
Columbia advances to face No. 4-seeded Central Baptist College on Thursday, April 30 at 12:00 p.m. at the Branson Rec Plex in a winners bracket semifinal.
Statistical Leaders: CC def. Cottey, 8-1
- Cassidy Avery led the offense going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI
- Laken Aidich's pinch-hit, three-run double in the sixth inning was the game's decisive blow
- Kennedy Schanuth finished 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base
- Abigail Zismer went 2-for-4 with a triple and a run scored
- Kylee Page doubled to left field for an RBI; Sophia Angel added an RBI and a stolen base
- Columbia finished with 12 hits and did not record a strikeout
- Pitching
