BOISE – Kelsey Hall hit three more home runs to continue her torrid streak and Boise State defended its first-place position in the Mountain West by splitting a doubleheader with Nevada on Wednesday.
The Broncos dropped game one to the Wolf Pack 6-5 while leaving 12 runners on base before rebounding in game two with a controlling 9-5 victory.
Trailing 6-5 in game one Boise State loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t push the tying run across either time.
Game two was a different story. The Broncos struck right out of the gate in the first with a two-run home run from Serena Huchingson, who finished with two RBI’s and three runs scored, and added to the lead in the fourth with a two-run blast from the bat of Hall.
“In between games we talked about some things we needed to improve on and talked about how do we respond,” Boise State coach Justin Shults told Bronco Nation News. “If we’re going to at least salvage the day we’ve got to respond well … Huch (Huchingson), one pitch, and hits a bomb for us and kinda regained the momentum after a tough loss.”
Things erupted in the bottom of the sixth inning with a three-run home run off the bat of freshman Sydney Groves to make the score 8-2 and Abby Bumcrot followed later in the inning with a single and RBI to extend Boise State’s lead to 9-2.
Hall was honored with the NFCA and Extra Inning Softball Player of the Week awards earlier this week, and the senior hasn’t cooled down quite yet. She’s hit 10 home runs in the past 13 games.
“It just makes me want to continue to show up every day for these girls, because everyone’s so supportive,” Hall told Bronco Nation News. “If it’s not me it’s going to be someone else next week. It’s an awesome, awesome feeling.”
Hall hit two home runs in the first game and added a third in the second game. The Sacramento, Calif. native is so locked in at the plate that Nevada elected to intentionally walk her twice.
“I just tell everybody I’m staying as far away from that kid as possible,” Shults laughed. “Right now she’s doing something special.”
Trailing 9-2 heading into the seventh, Nevada attempted to string together a rally but came up short.
Next up for the Broncos (21-12, 8-2 MW) is a trip to the Bay Area this weekend for two conference games against San Jose State on Saturday before taking on Saint Mary’s on Monday.
Interviews from Justin Shults and Kelsey Hall on the Bronco Nation News YouTube channel:
