Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ABILENE – ACU senior shortstop
Peyton Hedrick went 5 for 6 in the second game of Friday's Southland Conference doubleheader against Sam Houston State, leading the Wildcats to an 8-6 win over the Bearkats and a split of the twinbill at Wells Field.
Sam Houston State took the first game, 3-1, before ACU bounced back to win the nightcap. The series will conclude Saturday at noon in ACU's final home game of the season. The split leaves the Wildcats at 19-21 overall and 11-9 in the league, while Sam Houston sits at 19-27 and 10-10. The Wildcats are in seventh in the league standings, one game ahead of Sam Houston State and two games ahead of Lamar. The top eight teams in the league qualify for next month's Southland Conference Postseason Tournament.
ACU's bats, which were silenced in the opening game of the doubleheader, came alive in the second game as the Wildcats collected 12 hits, including the five from Hedrick, the senior shortstop who plays the final home game of her brilliant Wildcat career Saturday afternoon. Hedrick had a solo home run in the fifth inning to push ACU's lead to 6-3 before
Holly Neese – who also caps her home career Saturday – added a two-run single in the sixth to make it 8-3, runs that turned out to be the difference in the game.
Sam Houston tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh against
Calie Burris, cutting the ACU lead to 8-6. But Burris – who has shown marked improvement in the circle in the last two weeks – got the final two outs of the game with the tying run at the plate each at-bat to finish off the victory. ACU has won each of the last four times she has appeared in the circle, including wins over Texas Tech and North Texas
Hannah Null – who will get the start in the circle Saturday in the final home game of her brilliant ACU career – was tagged with the loss in the first game as Sam Houston State scored twice in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Null (15-11) struck out six batters in the game and enters Saturday's game needing just 12 strikeouts to break the ACU single-season record for strikeouts (172) set by Shelly Owen in the program's inaugural season of 1997.
Prior to Saturday's game, the Wildcats will honor seniors Hedrick, Null, Neese,
Brianna BarnhillAlyson Bischoff,
Braegan Hamilton and
Savannah Rendon.
