Holman one-hits Bears, Wildcats run-rule Panthers in Six

ABILENE - Abilene Christian softball posted a doubleheader sweep of Northern Colorado and Prairie View A&M Friday at Poly Wells Field during the first day of its Wildcat Tournament. ACU won the first game over the Bears, 5-2, as freshman hurler Sidney Holman twirled a one-hitter, and in the nightcap, Hannah Null struck out seven in a six-inning 11-2 victory over the Panthers.

The victories lifted ACU's season record to 5-8, while Prairie View A&M and Northern Colorado will begin Saturday's action with respective records of 1-7 and 2-10.

Tomorrow's tripleheader begins at 11 a.m. with ACU and Northern Colorado followed by the Bears and Panthers at 1 p.m. Northern Colorado won its first game over Prairie View A&M to begin today's action, 9-1, with the game ending on a three-run home run by catcher Adeline Coldiron. ACU will then meet the Panthers one more time Saturday at 3 p.m.

It was also announced today that Sunday's tournament finale between the Wildcats and Bears would be moved to an 11 a.m. start to accommodate Northern Colorado's travel plans.
 

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Game 1 – ACU 5, Northern Colorado 2
Freshman Sidney Holman took a no-hitter into the seventh inning only to see it spoiled by a two-run home run off the bat of Jordan Wiatrack following a walk to Rachel Johnson. Holman, however, bounced right back and got two ground balls back to the circle along with her eighth strikeout of the afternoon in leading the Wildcats to a 5-2 win over Northern Colorado.

Holman finished her complete game with 126 pitches, four walks, and did not allow a fly ball until the Bears took their final at-bat in the seventh. In addition to her eight Ks, she also induced one pop up to second base and 10 ground ball outs during a blustery day in the Big Country.

ACU broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning, scoring four times on four hits. Peyton Hedrick led off with a triple and scored on an infield single in front of the plate by left fielder Braegan Hamilton, who would later score on a fielding error by the Bears' second baseman.

With one out, Brianna Barnhill made it a 4-0 game with her single through the hole on the left side that plated both Casey-May Huff and pinch runner Mackenzie Thornton, and then in the fifth, Hedrick raced home on Huff's RBI ground ball to shortstop.

Jayme Reddacliff was saddled with the loss, dropping her season record to 1-6, even though only one of the five runs she surrendered was earned.

Both Hedrick and Barnhill finished game one 2-for-3 as the Wildcats collected six base hits of Reddacliff and two Northern Colorado relievers.
 

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Game 2 – ACU 11, Prairie View A&M 2 (6 innings)
ACU scored four times in the sixth inning to run-rule the Prairie View A&M Panthers, 11-2. Peyton Hedrick blasted a bases-clearing triple off the glove of the Panthers' center fielder and scored on Savannah Rendon's pinch hit ground ball to short to cap the Wildcats' scoring.

Hannah Null then finished the game by striking out the side in the sixth, finishing with seven punch outs on just 80 pitches. She walked one batter, gave up two hits and two runs, only one of which was earned.

The Wildcats scored two in their half of the first inning on Braegan Hamilton's single to left field, and made it a 4-1 game in the third when Taylor Brown's grounder under the glove of the Panthers' shortstop resulted in an unlikely inside-the-park home run as the ball rolled all the way to the wall. Scoring on the play was Brianna Barnhill.

Prairie View cut ACU's lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Shelby Williams, but that's as close as the designated home team would get as the Wildcats scored seven times between the fourth and sixth innings. 

Pinch runner Mackenzie Thornton scored on a throwing error to make it a 5-2 game in the fourth. The Wildcats would add two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Holly Neese and Casey-May Huff.

Neese, Brown and Hedrick all finished the nightcap with two base hits and a combined six runs and six RBI.