CONWAY, Ark. – Abilene Christian softball lost 11-10 Saturday at Central Arkansas' Farris Field in an epic 12-inning marathon that took three hours and 10 minutes to complete.
The series loss was ACU's first of the conference season and dropped their overall and Southland records to 12-14 and 6-3, while the Bears improved to 22-11 and 6-3.
ACU let several leads slip away this afternoon, including three in extra innings. The Bears answered the Wildcats' 10th-inning run with a RBI single by shortstop Kate Myers, and ACU's four-spot in the 11th inning was erased by catcher Jessie Taylor's grand slam.
Senior catcher
Cara Hoover gave the Wildcats their fifth and final lead with a single to center in the 12th; however, the Bears quickly loaded the bases against relievers
Allison Turner and
Julia Montoya and won it on Hannah Stirton's single to left-center field.
Stirton finished the day with three RBI, the second of which sent the game to extra innings after singling to right field with two on and one out vs. reliever
Hannah Null.
The Bears' left fielder also put the home team on the scoreboard first with a two-out rip to left as part of a two-run first.
ACU scored the next three runs between the third and fourth innings in taking a 3-2 lead. Sophomore
Holly Neese doubled home
Peyton Hedrick with two outs in the third, and the following frame, first baseman
Baylee Travers crushed a two-run shot to left field.
A Wildcat error led to a game-tying run in the bottom of the sixth, but the Wildcats' countered in top of the seventh with a two-out RBI single by
Brianna Barnhill, who matched Hedrick's effort with three base hits.
Junior
Casey-May Huff started for the Wildcats and surrendered three unearned runs between the first and sixth innings, and returned to the game in the 11th only to give up the grand slam to Taylor, who started the game 0-for-4.
After pitching a complete game Friday afternoon, Null tossed 76 pitches in relief over 4.1 innings of work with three strikeouts, while Turner and Montoya were limited to the 12th inning. Turner threw close to 150 pitches Friday night in ACU's 8.0-inning victory.
Shivaun Landeros started and came back to win the game in relief for UCA. She pitched the first 4.0 innings before being taken out after the Travers' home run and later allowed all but one of the Wildcats' six extra-inning runs.
Nicole Fullilove pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and was relieved in the fifth by Kayla Gomness after loading the bases with one out. Gomness bailed out her teammate by getting a ground ball back to the circle and a swinging strikeout of Travers.
Gomness later gave up the Barnhill RBI single in the seventh, but was quite effective in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings. She was replaced in the circle by Landeros to start the 10th after throwing 129 pitches over the last two days.
Both teams combined for 29 hits, 15 of which belonged to the Wildcats, but conversely they each made three errors and totaled 29 runners left on base.
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday for a 6 p.m. home game vs. Texas Tech, and will be on the road again next weekend for a three-game set at first-place McNeese State.
