CHADRON – Amy Schartz hit a solo home run over the fence in right-center on the first pitch of the 7th inning to lift the Chadron State College softball team to a 7-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over Metro State Sunday at the CSC Softball Field.

The victory gave the Eagles a split in their weekend pod series with the Roadrunners and Fort Lewis. The Skyhawks swept both CSC and Metro, including wins yesterday of 5-4 over CSC and 5-3 over Metro.

Against Metro, the Eagles led 6-1 after Sarah Knudsen hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 3rd, but the Roadrunners (12-21, 5-16 RMAC) scored 5 runs in the top of fifth inning to tie things up. That would simply set the stage for the 7th inning heroics of Schartz.

Chadron State’s Breeze Phillips came in and got the final out of the 5th, and then pitched nearly flawlessly in the final two innings…allowing just two runners…to earn the victory.

Chadron State finished with 10 hits as Schartz,  Rebecca Wetsch, and Amanda Einspahr each had two. Knudsen’s 4 rbi’s was tops with Schartz accounting for 2 and Wetsch the other.

In the Eagles’ game against Fort Lewis, the Skyhawks scored once in the 3rd and twice in the 4th…the latter on a 2-run homer by Destinee DeHerrera…to go up 3-0. CSC came back to tie with single runs in the 4th, 5th, and 6th but Fort Lewis pushed across 2 in the top of the 7th to regain the lead and the Eagles could only get one in their final at-bats.

Katie Londo, Schartz, Shea Graham and Knudsen each drove in a run but no CSC player had more than one hit. Aryne Grywusiesicz went the distance and took the loss, falling to 5-11 on the season.

The win went Kassie Haubert, who scattered 5 hits over 6 innings with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts.  Katie Watkins pitched a scoreless 7th to earn a save.

With the weekend split, CSC stands 12-18 on the season and 10-13 in RMAC. That’s good for 7th place, 3 games behind Adams State and 1-1/2 in front of Western New Mexico.

Fort Lewis jumps to 9th with its 4-0 weekend at 9-15, 11-18 overall, while Metro State slips to 12-21 on the year and 5-16 in league play. Only Black Hills State, at 3-17, has a worse league record than the Roadrunners.

Chadron State is on the road in Denver this weekend to play Regis in doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. The Rangers are 7-26 for the season and 6-16 in RMAC play.