HAMMOND, La. – Abilene Christian's offense backed another solid start by senior
Hannah Null Saturday at North Oak Park, collecting 13 base hits in a 7-1 victory over Southeastern Louisiana. Null (7-6) struck out three batters in her complete-game effort as the Wildcats (8-12, 2-1 Southland) once again started Southland Conference play with a series win vs. the Lady Lions (12-10, 1-2 Southland).
Each member of ACU's starting lineup collected at least one base hit, including
Donelle Johnson,
Braegan Hamilton,
Briana Tijerina, and
Caroline Adair who each finished with a pair of base knocks.
Holly Neese also hit her second home run in two days and third of the season with a solo shot in the seventh inning.
ACU scored its first six runs between the second and fourth innings, and got things rolling with a two-out walk to first baseman
Brianna Barnhill. Her free pass issued by Rachel Hayes (2-5) was then followed by four-straight singles that resulted in three runs.
The Wildcats added their fourth run in the third and tacked on two more in the fourth. Tijerina singled home Keeling with two outs in the third inning, and in the fourth, Johnson doubled in
Katelyn Belch and scored one batter later on Hamilton's single up the middle.
Null pitched out of a few jams early on, but after escaping a two-on, no-out situation in the third inning she soon began to cruise by retiring 12 straight batters until reaching the seventh where the Lady Lions scored once on three hits. Ali McCoy led off with a double, and scored two batters later on Alli Daigle's single to the left-center gap. But Daigle would get no further than second base as Keeling caught the runner (Anna Rodenberg) trying to steal third on a attempted double steal, and from there Null got an infield pop up and a strikeout of leadoff hitter Jacquelyn Ramon to end the game.
Null limited the Lady Lions to six base hits and tossed just 94 pitches.
The Wildcats are off from competition for much of their spring break week until they play host to Northwestern State Friday at 6 p.m.
