HAMMOND, La. - Sophomore infielder
Holly Neese crushed two home runs, scored three times and drove in four to lead Abilene Christian to a 7-3 comeback win Saturday night in the Southland Conference season opener at Southeastern Louisiana.
The Wildcats have now won their last four games in improving to 7-11 (1-0 Southland), while the Lady Lions slipped to 12-10 (0-1 Southland).
ACU started the game in a 2-0 hole after the first, but Neese brought her side right back with a solo home run in the second inning and a fourth-inning fly ball to left that helped produce two runs. Freshman
Miranda Herron scored on what ruled a sacrfice fly / E7, and with the ball dropped Neese was able to advance to second base.
Neese went to third on a single by
Brianna Barnhill, and junior
Casey-May Huff tied the game on an infield RBI single back to the circle and starter Taylor Bishop (7-6).
The score remained tied at 3-3 until the Wildcats put up four runs in the fifth.
Peyton Hedrick broke the deadlock with a two-run, two-out double to the left-center gap, and Neese followed with her second round-tripper of the night to finish 3-of-4 with three runs and four RBI.
From there the Wildcats' offense stranded runners at the corners in the sixth and were retired in order by Bishop in the seventh.
After taking leads of 2-0 and 3-1, there was little else the Lady Lions' offense could do against starter
Hannah Null and freshman reliever
Allison Turner. Null improved to 4-5 after lasting 4.0 innings in which she allowed five hits, three runs (two earned), two walks and two strikeouts, while Turner earned the save behind 3.0 scoreless frames.
Null walked Southeastern's first batter - Katie Lacour - and watched her score from second base on a one-out single by Kinsey Nichols. Then with two outs, an infield single to shortstop by Mychal Truxillo combined with a throwing error allowed Nichols to score.
The speedy Lacour again came around in the third inning thanks to two stolen bases and another RBI single by Nichols. Later that frame Nichols was thrown out trying to steal second by senior catcher
Cara Hoover and Null escaped the jam with a swinging strikeout of cleanup batter Amber Sather.
The Lady Lions put two more runners on base against Null in the fourth with the score tied at 3-3, but left them at the corners with a foul out down the first-base line.
Turner took over to start the fifth and despite walking Lacour and Sather was able to put another zero on the scoreboard after getting Truxillo to ground out to
Demi McNulty at second base.
Turner then retired Southeastern in order in the sixth, and in the seventh, she got a big out at home plate as center fielder
Taylor Brown gunned down Jaquelyn Ramon trying to slide past Hoover. The game ended on a fielder's choice with McNulty flipping the ball to Hedrick covering second base for the force out.
Turner tossed 46 pitches in 3.0 innings of work and Null finished with 61.
Bishop allowed 10 hits and struck out two in her complete-game effort for Southeastern, ending the night with 111 pitches.
The Wildcats and Lady Lions conclude their three-game series Sunday with an 11 a.m. doubleheader.
