Softball | 4/19/2016 1:14:00 PM
Live stats | Video (Texas Tech) | Audio (ACU) ABILENE – Fresh off a grueling Southland Conference series win at Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian softball makes its first trip of the spring to Lubbock Wednesday night for a rematch with a Texas Tech team that beat the Wildcats 6-1 last month at Poly Wells Field.
TexasTech.com will provide live stats and a video stream. There also will be free Internet audio of the ACU broadcast.
The Red Raiders (19-24, 4-5 Big 12) scored four times against the Wildcats during the third inning in which Kierra Miles and Jessica Hartwell each hit a two-run home run off freshman
Allison Turner. Miles' round-tripper broke a 1-1 tie after ACU's
Holly Neese took Cheyenne Powell deep in the bottom of the second.
Powell allowed only four more hits in pitching a complete game, while Turner was evenutally lifted for redshirt sophomore
Hannah Null, who held the Red Raiders scoreless until the seventh when Brittany Warnecke hit a solo shot to left field.
Despite the loss, the experience of playing against a Big 12 school prepared ACU well for its subsequent Southland Conference series. The Wildcats handed first-place McNeese its first conference loss of the spring several days later – snapping the Cowgirls 10-game winning streak – and the following weekend they posted a rare sweep of their longtime rivals from Incarnate Word.
ACU (18-18, 12-6 Southland) recently grinded out a series victory over an SFA squad that had owned a 5-1 record against the Wildcats since they joined the Southland three years ago. The Ladyjacks got a grand slam to break a 1-1 tie in game one to win 5-1, but later lost a nail-biting 7-6 thriller that took 10 innings to complete.
In that game, junior center fielder
Taylor Brown set a school and tied the league's record for most hits in a single game with six, the last of which scored
Baylee Travers from third base with two outs. Senior
Julia Montoya then pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn her first win of the spring after getting the Ladyjacks' No. 5 batter to pop up with runners at second and third base.
Hannah Null handcuffed the Ladyjacks' offense for much of game three as the Wildcats received a pair of two-run home runs from
Peyton Hedrick and
Cara Hoover en route to a 6-1 win. Senior
Demi McNulty added a 3-for-3 performance with two runs Saturday afternoon and is now hitting .352 vs. the Southland Conference, second only on the team to Hedrick (.381).
Texas Tech started Big 12 play following its midweek game at ACU and won its first four contests, sweeping Oklahoma State at home and winning the first of three games at Texas. Since then, however, the Red Raiders have dropped five straight, losing two to the Longhorns followed by a sweep at Kansas.
Tech will resume conference play later this week when it plays host to Iowa State. ACU also will be home at this Friday and Saturday vs. Sam Houston State.
