HENDERSON, Nev. – Freshman pitchers Genavie Espinoza and Emily Darwin combined to throw a no-hitter in Yavapai College softball's game one victory, before the Roughriders eventually ran away with another run-rule victory in game two's seesaw affair. 

Overall, Yavapai outscored its opponents 29-6 on the day, tallied its third-consecutive run-rule victory and moved to 4-1 on the season. 

Game One
The aforementioned Espinoza and Darwin dominated the Northwestern Colorado Community College Spartans in Saturday morning's game one. The duo tossed a combined no-hitter in the contest while allowing just two baserunners. 

Darwin started the game and went three innings with two strikeouts before handing the ball to Espinoza who pitched the final two frames with one strikeout. 

Offensively, the Roughriders put together scoring innings of two, five, three and five, respectively. As a team, Yavapai combined for 10 walks, four of which came from freshman infielder Yaya Kaaialii with three coming from fellow freshman infielder Makena Riggs. 

Sophomore infielder Cheyenne Sandoval led Yavapai at the plate with a 3-for-3 effort that included a grand slam to put the Riders up 14-0. Sophomore outfielder Kayla Rodgers tallied two hits while sophomore outfielder Mia Weckel, freshman infielder Lovey Kepa'a, freshman catcher Jasmine Moreno, freshman infielder Makena Riggs and freshman catcher Ashley Fields all finished with one. 

Kepa'a and Riggs both tallied two RBIs and a double apiece with Moreno adding a double as well. 

Game Two
In the afternoon game against the Snow College Badgers, Yavapai and Snow went back-and-forth until the Riders put the contest out of reach with a 10-spot in the bottom of the fifth for the run-rule victory. 

Yavapai jumped to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Kepa'a RBI single in what was the first of five lead changes in the game. In the top of the third, Snow launched a three-run homer to take a two-run lead. 

The Roughriders responded with five-straight hits to start the bottom of the third to retake the lead with a 4-3 score. In the frame, Sandoval and Riggs tallied RBI singles while Moreno tallied an RBI double. 

This time, it was the Badgers with a big response as Snow scored on an error and a two-run homer to go up 6-4 in the ballgame. 

In the bottom of the fifth, however, the Yavapai offense was perfect and saw all 12 hitters that it sent to the plate reach safely, eventually resulting in a 14-6 run-rule. 

Moreno started the fun with a solo homer to cut the lead to one and was followed by a walk from Riggs and a single from sophomore Alyssa Rosales. Fields then launched a three-run homer for an 8-6 lead. 

After the homer, the relentless Roughriders kept their foot on the gas and ended the contest in the blink of an eye. Weckel singled, Rodgers walked, Kaaialii walked, Kepa'a singled, Sandoval singled, Moreno singled, Riggs singled and Rosales put an end to the madness with a single that brought home Moreno for the winning run. 

Fields and Moreno paced the squad in RBIs with three apiece while Kepa'a had two. In the hit column, Kepa'a was a perfect 4-for-4, Moreno notched three hits, Sandoval, Riggs and Rosales all finished with two and Weckel, Rodgers, Kaaialii and Fields all finished with one. Kaaialii also had three walks in game two, giving her seven total on the day. 

Up Next
Yavapai returns to the diamond on Friday, February 4, in Yuma, Arizona, at the Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex where they will take on the College of Southern Nevada Coyotes at 1 p.m. to kickoff the 2022 Great Western Shootout Tournament.