AUSTIN, Texas – Redshirt sophomore pitcher
Hannah Null pitched another great game Saturday at the Texas Invitational, but this time left the field a winner as she and her Wildcat teammates hung on for a 2-1 win vs. Tulsa (11-3) at McCombs Field.
Coming off a 3-2 walk-off loss Friday to 24th-ranked Texas, Null started today's game with 4.0 scoreless innings in which she allowed just three base runners, two of which were left in scoring position.
Jocelyn Sheffield singled with one out in the second inning, but was left stranded at second following two ground balls. No. 9 hitter Rylie Spell began the third with a walk, however, her pinch runner was left on third base after Null got a strikeout, pop up and line out to second base.
The Hurricane finally got to Null in the fifth with a two-out RBI single by leadoff batter Maggie Withee, but she stranded another runner in scoring position in the sixth, and ended the game with a strike out of Jodi Edmiston with runners at the corners.
Null tossed 112 pitches in her complete-game effort with three strikeouts, two walks and six hits allowed.
ACU produced all its offense in the sixth inning after being no- hit by starter Ellie Reaves for 5.0 innings. After junior transfer Allie Spivey broke up Reaves' bid for a no-hitter leading off with an infield single to third,
Taylor Brown reached first base on a fielder's choice, advanced to second on a bunt single by
Demi McNulty and stole third base for her fourth theft of the spring.
The Wildcats tied the game at 1-1 on an RBI single by
Peyton Hedrick; however, McNulty was thrown out at home trying to score all the way from second base.
Holly Neese then came through with the game winning hit, singling home Hedrick after she advanced to third on a wild pitch by reliever Emily Watson.
The defeat was Tulsa's first at the Texas Invitational as the Hurricane began their stay in Austin with a 5-3 win over Weber State followed by consecutive 3-0 wins over the previously undefeated Longhorns.
In the nightcap, Weber State (8-6) ran away from the Wildcats with six unanswered runs en route to a 6-1 win.
Brianna Barnhill cracked her second home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning but then Weber State scored five times between the third and fifth frames off ACU's freshman pitcher
Allison Turner.
Weber State tied the game in the third on a RBI single and took the lead for good on consecutive run-scoring hits by its No. 2 and 3 batters. Krystin Kubo put the game further out of reach with a two-run home run with two away in the fifth inning.
Kirtlyn Bohling pitched a complete game vs. the Wildcats with four strikeouts and allowed just one base runner after the third inning, in which she stranded runners at the corners.
The Wildcats play their first home games of the spring next weekend, March 5 and 6, for a three-game series vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Game times are 2 p.m. Saturday (DH) and 12 p.m. Sunday.
ACU will then begin Southland Conference play the weekend of March 11 at Southeastern Louisiana.
