Box Score ABILENE – On an emotional afternoon, senior first baseman
Brianna Barnhill blasted her team-leading sixth home run of the season to help the ACU Wildcats take down Sam Houston State, 2-1, on Senior Day at Wells Field. Senior pitcher
Hannah Null tossed a terrific complete game, striking out five Bearkats in a terrific complete-game performance in the final home appearance of her brilliant career. Null and Barnhill were two of seven seniors who were honored Saturday, including shortstop
Peyton Hedrick, who will leave ACU as, perhaps, the greatest everyday player in program history. Other Wildcats honored Saturday were
Holly Neese,
Alyson Bishoff, Braegan Hamilon and
Savannah Rendon.
The Wildcats' 2-1 victory gave them the series win over the Bearkats as they pushed their record to 20-21 overall and 12-9 in the Southland Conference. Sam Houston State, meanwhile, leaves Abilene at 19-28 and 10-11. The Wildcats have seven games left in the regular season; all of them on the road beginning with next weekend's three-game conference series at Central Arkansas. The Wildcats will be at Texas Tech for a single game on May 1 and then close the regular season May 4-6 at Stephen F. Austin.
Sam Houston State struck first Saturday as Brooke Malia – who had three hits in the game – blasted a solo home run to make it a 1-0 game. It stayed that way until the sixth inning when the Wildcats got the only two runs they needed to pull out the win.
Neese started the sixth inning with a hard-hit single into left field, her second hit of the afternoon. Two batters later, Barnhill pounded an 0-1 fastball deep over the fence in centerfield to give ACU a 2-1 lead.
Null gave up a double to Malia leading off the top of the seventh, but she quickly got a fly out to left and a strikeout before getting Sheridan Fisher to ground out to Barnhill at first base to end the game.
