ABILENE – Only a few months back Abilene Christian softball rallied from nine runs down to beat Monmouth, 10-9, so it really came as no surprise that the Wildcats again conjured some-late inning magic to erase a pair of seven-run deficits and beat Texas Tech in walkoff fashion, 11-10, Tuesday night at Poly Wells Field.
Freshman third baseman
Katelyn Belch received the hero's welcome at home plate after cracking the game-winning, two-run home run – her second of the season – just to the left of the batter's eye in center field, but ACU's seventh hitter that inning would never have received such a clutch opportunity if not for the tactful hitting that took place ahead of her.
ACU went into its final at-bat trailing 10-5 but watched its first five batters all reach base against three different Red Raider pitchers. Leadoff batter
Donelle Johnson started with a single and center fielder
Braegan Hamilton followed with a triple. A walk was issued to second baseman
Holly Neese, and a wild pitch put her in scoring position for shortstop
Peyton Hedrick's two-run double to the right-center gap that cut Texas Tech's lead to 10-8.
Brianna Barnhill kept the wheels spinning with an infield single. Hedrick then scored on pinch hitter
Savannah Rendon's fly ball to center field, leading right into Belch's round-tripper that gave ACU its second consecutive victory over Texas Tech.
While the Red Raiders were forced to shuffle around its three-woman pitching staff of starter Erin Edmoundson and relievers Cheyene Powell and Kassidy Scott (6-7), the Wildcats stuck with their freshman hurler
Calie Burris (3-6), who went the distance despite giving up 10 runs on 13 hits and one walk.
Texas Tech sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring four times, but Burris slipped out of trouble by getting a double play ball off the bat of third baseman Breanna Russell. The visitors later pushed the Wildcats to the brink of a run-rule loss with a five-run fourth inning during which first baseman Jessica Hartwell and Karli Hamilton each produced a two-run extra-base hit. Designated player Heaven Burton would follow their double and triple with a RBI single that made it a 9-2 ball game.
The Wildcats, however, staved off elimination with a timely two-out solo home run by Johnson in the fifth, and after Hamilton homered in the sixth to make it 10-3, ACU answered with a pair of unearned runs thanks to a pair of errors made by Russell at third base.
ACU recorded half of its 10 base hits in the seventh inning and was led on offense by Barnhill and
Braegan Hamilton, each of whom collected three base hits. Barnhill's first hit of the game was a two-out, two-run single to right field that cut the Red Raiders' lead to 4-2 in the first inning.
Texas Tech's Karli Hamilton led her side with three hits and four RBI. Burton also finished with three singles.
The Wildcats next play host to Incarnate Word for a three-game conference series starting Friday at 6 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader is slated to start at 12 p.m.
