ABILENE – Abilene Christian's softball team returns to Poly Wells Field for the first time in two weeks this Friday and Saturday for a three-game series against Lone Star Conference rival Tarleton State. Game times are Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.
Both ends of Saturday's doubleheader will be broadcast locally on 1280 AM KSLI and via the ACU Sports page on
SkyBoxLive.com for the price of $1.99.
The Wildcats (18-14, 2-4 LSC) are coming off a doubleheader sweep at Texas-Permian Basin, which included a tightly contested 3-2 win followed by a blowout 10-1 (5) triumph. The wins also helped ACU finish 4-4 on its eight-game Spring Break road trip.
All three Wildcat pitchers made an appearance in Odessa Tuesday. Senior
Shelby Hall started game one and entered the final frame holding a 3-0 lead, but gave up base hits to three of the first four batters followed by a wild pitch that made it a 3-2 game.
Hall would retire one more batter before being lifted in favor of senior
Caitlyn Crain, who ended the game with a strike out of No. 3 hitter Nikki Brailsford with runners in scoring position. Crain's save was her second of the season.
Junior
Peyton Mosley started game two and went all five innings, giving up just three hits and striking out two batters.
Hall (2.18), Crain (2.21) and Mosley (2.52) all have season ERAs that rank among the top-10 leaders in the LSC and their combined strikeout total of 132 is the fourth most in the LSC behind Texas Woman's (162), Tarleton State (156) and Incarnate Word (145).
Junior
Lyndi Smith homered for the fifth time this season during Tuesday's twin bill, which helped raise her team-leading batting average to .370. She also ranks among the league leaders with 37 hits, 61 total bases and 25 RBI.
Elsewhere in the league rankings, senior
Keanna Winkfield has the seventh most hits with 38 and is tied for second with three triples, while junior
Courtney Flanary ranks eighth with 26 runs and tied for seventh with eight doubles. Senior
Sara Vaughn has drawn the eighth most walks with 15.
Tarleton State (15-12, 3-3 LSC) comes to Abilene following yesterday's doubleheader split with St. Mary's and last weekend's series sweep of Texas A&M-Kingsville. The TexAnns were swept by West Texas A&M to begin their conference season.
Tarleton State currently owns the league's lowest team batting average at .261 and has only three players ranked among the LSC's individual leaders. Arianna Rodriguez has the sixth-most runs with 29, while Rachel Brownlow and Melody Mayse each are tied for second with three triples.
The TexAnn pitching staff is led by Randi Fentress, who has an 8-7 record to go along with 77 Ks and .245 opponents' batting average. Brenna Hennan is second on her team – and fourth in the LSC – with 73 Ks.
ACU lost two of three games at Tarleton last season but still leads the all-time series, 30-26.
