ABILENE - A sixth-inning grand slam by catcher Brittney Morse lifted the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi softball team to a 5-3 series victory over Abilene Christian Saturday at Poly Wells Field.
The Wildcats went into the sixth ahead 3-1 but starting pitcher
Emily Seidel allowed three consecutive singles vs. the top of the Islanders' order and then Morse cracked her 10th home run of the season over the wall in left field.
Seidel went on to retire six of the last seven batters she faced and had truly pitched well on her Senior Day up until that fateful sixth. She faced the minimum number of batters in the second, fourth and fifth, while in the third she left a runner at third base following a sacrifice fly by Mackinzee Griebel that gave Corpus Christi a 1-0 lead.
ACU (11-33, 5-19 SLC) came right back to take the lead in their half of the third when
Peyton Hedrick drilled her 11th home run of the spring - a two-run shot that came with two outs.
Sophomore
Taylor Brown's Southland Conference-best 10th triple preceded Hedrick's home run.
The Wildcats got one more run in the fourth on a RBI single up the middle by
Alyson Bishoff, but in the fifth and sixth their offense stalled against the Islanders' Liz Carter.
ACU put their first two runners aboard in the fifth, but an attempted sacrifice bunt by Hedrick turned into a fielder's choice after
Holly Vanckhoven was thrown out at third base as the ball was popped in between Carter and her battery mate Morse.
Brianna Barnhill flew out to center for the second out, and then right fielder Mickayla Cochran robbed
Holly Neese of a run-scoring hit with a snow-cone catch in right-center.
The Wildcats once again had runners on base with one out in the sixth, but Carter escaped thanks to a strikeout and infield pop up.
Carter closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth, getting two ground balls and a foul out to right.
The Wildcats conclude their 2015 season next weekend at Houston Baptist.
