Softball finishes 2015 season with sweep of Houston Baptist

HOUSTON - Senior Emily Seidel overcame a tough first inning and later delivered a two-run, pinch-hit single in the seventh to lead the Abilene Christian softball team to a 8-4 victory over Houston Baptist Saturday at Husky Field.

With a three-game sweep of the Huskies in its pocket, ACU completed its second year of Division I competition with a 14-33 overall record and 8-19 mark vs. the Southland Conference. Although the Wildcats are unaccustomed to such records, it's worth remembering they had to grind their way through the entire year without the services of their best pitcher - sophomore Hannah Null - while utilizing seven or eight freshman as part of the everyday starting lineup.

Even with so much inexperience at the plate and in the field, the Wildcats still posted the league's fifth-highest batting average at .286 and tied for the third-lowest amount of errors with 57. The Wildcats also finished among the upper half in the conference with 359 hits, 17 triples,  36 home runs and 437 slugging percentage.

It's additionally worth noting that head coach Bobby Reeves' crew won five of its last seven, pulled off upset victories against postseason-bound McNeese and Southeastern Louisiana, and held its own against the likes of Baylor,  UT-Arlington and several other league opponents.

So even though the start of next season is nine months away, the Wildcats have to feel optimistic about the possibility of flipping their 2015 record as they're expected to bring everyone back with the exception of Seidel, their lone senior.

Seidel had a tough year statistically with the occasional gem mixed in, such as her complete game shutout of Incarnate Word. And even at the start of today it looked like she was headed toward another loss as the Huskies quickly erased a 3-0 deficit as a sacrifice fly was followed by a three-run home run by middle infielder Victoria Granchelli.

More trouble for Seidel came right afterward as center fielder Kay Schroeder reached on an error and Michaela Granchelli doubled to put two more runners in scoring position. Thankfully, Seidel escaped any further damage by getting catcher Caitlin Gunn to ground out to third base.

After teeing off on Seidel throughout the first frame, the Huskies must've thought they'd be able to salvage the final game of this series. But the funny thing about sports is, 'it ain't over 'til it's over,' and the same side that batted around in the first, couldn't get a baserunner past second the rest of the game as Seidel went on to scatter just three more hits while striking out four.

With Seidel feeling a sense of renewal in the circle, the Wildcats began to mount their third comeback of the series in the fifth inning. Freshman left fielder Melissa Rodriguez led off with a single and came home three batters later on the second of two Peyton Hedrick base hits to tie the score at 3-3.

Rookie right fielder Brianna Barnhill then ripped her second hit of the day to keep the inning alive for freshman third baseman Holly Neese, who drove in the go-ahead run (Taylor Brown) with a single to left.  

ACU went quietly in the sixth but added three big insurance runs in the seventh, the last two of which were driven in by Seidel during her first and final plate appearance of the season. Pinch hitting for designated player Kaliegh Lightsey with two outs, Seidel delivered a two-run single down the right-field line that plated both Brown and Hedrick.

In the last of the seventh, Seidel got a pop up and ground out before allowing a two-out single to cleanup batter Melissa Herman. The Huskies' designated player then ended the game with a ground ball to Hedrick.

Hedrick's incredible freshman season saw her finish among the Southland Conference top-10 leaders in 10 offensive categories, including each of the triple crown columns (.432-12-45), in addition to doubles (11), triples (5) and stolen bases (12). Her .800 slugging percentage ranked her second only to McNeese's Erika Piancastelli, while her .473 on-base percentage ranked seventh.

Brown had the most triples of any conference player with 11 and tied Hedrick for second with 44 runs scored.

Seidel tied for second in the Southland with 186.0 innings pitched and was sixth with 90 strikeouts.