ABILENE -- Janessa Martinez held ACU to just two hits and no runs over four effective innings Saturday afternoon to help Texas-Permian Basin salvage a split of a non-conference softball doubleheader at ACU's Wells Field.
The split drops the No. 22 Wildcats to 10-6 overall, while the Falcons are now 2-12 on the season. The Wildcats -- who saw their five-game winning streak snapped -- will be back in action next weekend at the Midwestern State Classic in Wichita Falls.
ACU didn't score a run until the fifth inning when
Demi McNulty doubled and scored on a single by
Sara Vaughn to knot the game at 1-1.
But the Falcons put up the eventual winning runs in the sixth inning off ACU starting and losing pitcher,
Peyton Mosley. With two outs and runners at second and third, the No. 9 batter in the lineup, Leslianne Ericson, drilled a 3-2 pitch to the gap in right-centerfield to plate Jackie Guzman and Walker to make it a 3-1 game.
The Wildcats got a run back in the sixth when Flanary led off with a double, went to third on a single by Smith and scored on a
Heather Peacock sacrifice fly. But
Cara Hoover struck out and
Taylor Fitzgerald grounded out to end the threat.
In the bottom of the seventh,
Keanna Winkfield reached on a one-out infield hit, but winning pitcher Megan Richards got the final two outs to end it as the Falcons celebrated just their second win of the season.
In Saturday's first game, the Wildcats scored seven runs in the first inning on their way to a run-rule win and their fifth straight win of the season.
Lyndi Smith and Hoover got the Wildcats on the board with a pair of two-run singles to center field to make it 4-0. After Winkfield was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 5-0,
Sara Vaughn delivered another two-run single to center to make it a 7-0 ACU lead.
The Wildcats added two more runs in the second inning on a two-run double to left-centerfield by McNulty that plated
Heather Peacock and smith.
The Falcons scored single runs in the second and third innings off ACU starting pitcher
Caitlyn Crain, but that was all they could get. Crain scattered six hits over five innings and struck out two batters to record the win and improve to 5-2 on the season.
ACU scored the game-ending run in the bottom of the sixth when
Madison Buckley led off with a triple and scored when Flanary reached on an error by UTPB third baseman Cene Padilla, allowing Buckley to score the run that ended the game on the eight-run rule.
