RUSTON, La. - A nine-run first inning ignited by a two-out home run by freshman shortstop
Peyton Hedrick helped Abilene Christian softball score its first victory of the season Sunday as the Wildcats went on to double up Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 14-7, at the Lady Techster Invitational hosted by Louisiana Tech.
The victory snapped a season-opening, four-game losing streak for the 1-4 Wildcats, while the Lions remain winless at 0-4.
After Hedrick, a native of Forney, Texas, crushed her first round-tripper of the season, the wheels fell off for UABP and starting pitcher Makay Hunter as the next 11 Wildcat
runners reached base on six hits, four walks, and the first of six errors.
The Lions' offense, however, was quick to respond against ACU starter
Julia Montoya (1-2) as it took advantage of an error and hit batsman, following up with a RBI single and consecutive bases-loaded walks. Montoya wriggled out of that jam with back-to-back strikeouts of the Lions' No. 8 and 9 batters.
The following inning, Pine Bluff trimmed its deficit to three runs at 9-6 after Jasmine Hardwrick crushed a three-run bomb to center. But that's as close as the Lions would get.
Montoya would get the next batter to pop up to first and then allowed just two more hits and one additional run over the next 3.0 innings.
Senior
Emily Seidel earned the save with 2.0 scoreless innings of work, and got the game to end on a unique 9-2-1-2 double play.
After plating nine in the first, ACU pushed its lead to 12-6 in the third thanks to a bases-loaded walk drawn by
Baylee Travers and a one-out, two-run double slashed to left-center by
Holly Vanckhoven.
And after the Lions made it a 12-7 game in the fifth, the Wildcats tacked on two insurance runs to start the seventh with
Demi McNulty scoring on an error and
Kaleigh Lightsey coming home for the third time on another RBI hit by Vanckhoven.
Vanckhoven finished her morning 3-for-4 with a run and four-RBI from the No. 9 spot, while leadoff hitter and sophomore
Taylor Brown went 3-for-6 with a run and two RBI.
The Wildcats return to action Friday, Feb. 13 with a home doubleheader at Poly Wells Field vs. Prairie View A&M. First pitch is at 2 p.m. ACU swept last year's season series, 4-0.
