NATCHITOCHES, La. - The arm and bat of senior
Alli Spivey delivered Abilene Christian softball a memorable 6-5 victory over Northwestern State Saturday at Lady Demon Diamond – a marathon game that only took 13 innings (3 hours, 47 minutes) to complete.
The first game of today's doubleheader was the longest for any
Bobby Reeves' coached team at ACU since he joined the program in 2011. The second-longest was a 12-inning game (3:10) from March 26 of last season at Central Arkansas where the Wildcats lost, 11-10.
Northwestern State tied the score at 3-3 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single by first baseman Brittney Jones and the contest remained deadlocked until the 10th when the Wildcats scored the first of its three extra-inning runs.
Peyton Hedrick scored on
Casey-May Huff's 10th inning single, and
Taylor Brown tripled home
Kaleigh Singleton the following inning as part of a 4-for-7 day at the plate.
But the Lady Demons had a response for each of those runs. With two outs and runners and the corners, Kaylee Isenburg ripped a single up the middle to score Sidney Salamans in the 10th, and Northwestern State's 11th inning run was courtesy of catcher Emma Hawthorne, who singled in pinch runner Madelyn Matt. However, in each of those innings, freshman reliever
Sidney Holman would prevent any further damage by stranding runners in scoring position.
Holman got a ground ball to end the 10th-inning threat and a strikeout of Haylee Barbazon to wrap the 11th. The 12th inning was even more dramatic as Spivey threw out the game-winning run at home plate as part of a inning-ending double play.
Moments later Spivey would play the hero's role at the plate, as with two on and two outs she singled back up the middle off starter Katelyn Boles, who tossed all 13.0 innings on a Herculean effort of 246 pitches. Boles gave up nine hits in her complete game performance, and only one of six runs she allowed were earned as her defense made three errors. She also walked four and struck out 10.
After the Wildcats took the lead for a fourth time, Holman returned to the circle once more to pitch a scoreless frame and she did so on 13 pitches while stranding the game-tying run at third base. The first batter popped up to shortstop. The second out was the result of a ground ball to second base, and the final out was a fly ball to Spivey in right field.
Holman not only finished the game with her 10th victory of the spring, but she also collected four Ks on 124 pitches through 8.1 innings pitched.
Redshirt junior
Hannah Null started and gave up three runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. She left the game with her team ahead 3-2, but was responsible for the run that scored in the bottom of the fifth.
The Lady Demons started ahead 2-0 as Salamans led off with a triple and scored two batters later on a Jones RBI single down the left-field line. Isenburg then singled and Jordan Rains brought Barbazon home with a sacrifice fly ball to left field.
ACU cut its deficit in half on Hedrick's fourth-inning RBI single that plated Brown. One inning later the Wildcats scored a pair of unearned runs as
Kaleigh Singleton reached on a two-out error that was followed by a stolen base, wild pitch, walk, RBI single (Brown), and an error by the first baseman.
Unfortunately for ACU, the home team cleaned up its act in all three areas of the nightcap to prevent a Wildcats' sweep. Northwestern State won game two, 5-0, behind pitcher Mikayla Brown's five-hitter that included six punchouts.
The Lady Demons were held scoreless by Null until the fourth inning when Hawthorne cranked a two-run home run down the left-field line. It then became a 4-0 game in the fifth on back-to-back RBI from Jones and Isenberg.
Northwestern State scored its last run in the sixth off Holman when Rawls singled in Hawthorne from second base with two outs.
ACU had five hits off Brown but didn't create any scoring threats until there were two outs in third, fifth and seventh innings. The Wildcats left the bases loaded in the fifth inning, and had runners at the corners in the seventh when the game ended on a fly ball to left field.
ACU remains on the road next weekend for a three-game series at Houston Baptist. Game times are Friday at 1 p.m. (DH) and Saturday at noon.
