Port Coquitlam’s Alia Stachoski had a rough outing from the pitcher’s cirlce in the first pre-season game for Simon Fraser University’s women’s softball team. But she saved it in the end.
The senior pitcher, who’s a grad of Riverside secondary school, gave up seven runs and eight hits to Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. on Tuesday before she was pulled in the fourth inning with the Clan down 7-3. But SFU batters put five runs across the plate in the top of the seventh inning, and Stachoski returned to the mound in the bottom of the frame to retire the last two Biola batters and earn the save in an 8-7 victory for the visitors.
The game was supposed to be the front end of a doubleheader, but after arriving at the ballpark late because of flight delays, the Clan contingent had to depart early to catch another flight to Sydney, Australia, where they’ll play a series of scrimmages against local open teams which feature a mix of Australian national and provincial-level players.
“Honestly, we just need to get outside,” said Clan coach Mike Renney, as rainy weather has confined his team to indoor workouts. “You get such limited bounce off the gym floor, and just can’t replicate the type of work you can put in on a real field.”
The Clan will be in Australia until Feb. 16. They open their Great Northwest Athletic Conference season March 3, with a doubleheader against the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets at Beedie Field on Burnaby Mountain.
