ABILENE - Two prolific offenses were on display Saturday morning at Poly Wells Field where the Abilene Christian and Southeastern Louisiana softball teams seemingly scored at will in their doubleheader split.
ACU won the first game 12-7, but the Lions went home with the 2-1 series victory after topping the Wildcats in the night cap, 16-7 in five-innings.
The split decision brings ACU's season mark to 4-15 (1-2 SLC), while the Lions left town at 7-13 (2-1 SLC).
Game one was a home run derby early on as the Wildcats answered a three-run, first inning shot by Amber Sather with one off the bat of
Peyton Hedrick. One inning later cleanup batter
Alyson Bishoff cranked a two-out grand slam to put ACU ahead at 7-3.
The Wildcats continued to pad their lead with the long ball behind a two-run blast to left by
Brianna Barnhill in the fourth. And those insurance runs certainly came in handy as the Lions scored four times between fifth and sixth innings.
Southeastern got one run back in the fifth on a solo homer by Sydney Booker that just cleared the wall in right field. Then things really started to escalate in the sixth as the Lions received back-to-back homers by Sloan Jenkins and Lacey Fritz to start the inning followed by an RBI double by Kinsey Nichols that cut their deficit to 9-7.
Nichols' two-bagger forced the Wildcats to turn its bullpen and
Julia Montoya, who after walking the bases loaded, retired the final four batters she faced to earn her first save in an ACU uniform.
Montoya's teammates helped her cause in their half of the sixth with three runs on three hits. Bishoff slapped a two-run double to left center to finish with six RBI and her pinch runner
Melissa Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch to cap the Wildcats' scoring.
The Lions evened the score in game two behind 14 hits, five of which left the yard in their run-rule victory. Booker and Sather each went deep twice and Vanessa Eng was responsible for a three-run shot during Southeastern's game-changing, six-run third.
ACU received three round-trippers in game two. Barnhill and
Cara Hoover drove in all three runs in the second on their home runs to center and left fields. And in the fourth, third baseman
Tori Valdivia collected her first hit of 2015 - a two-run blast over the wall in left-center.
The Wildcats hit .377 as a team this afternoon and received three or more hits from
Demi McNulty,
Taylor Brown, Bishoff and Barnhill.
Bishoff led all ACU players with seven RBI, while Barnhill drove in five on her pair of home runs.
ACU is off from competition during Spring Break but will resume conference action next weekend with a three-game series at Lamar. The Wildcats and Cardinals will play a single game Friday at 5 p.m. and a Saturday doubleheader starting at noon.
