ARLINGTON, Texas – ACU softball dropped a pair of crazy games Sunday at the Maverick Invite hosted by UTA, both by one runs, including an extra-inning opening contest. The Wildcats fell to the Wichita State, 3-2, in nine innings, with three of the five runs scored after the seventh. The host Mavericks topped ACU, 2-1, with a run in the top of the seventh in game two. With the losses, the Wildcats drop to 4-9 on the young season.
ACU returns home for the first time in 2019, and will host both the Maine Black Bears and the UMKC Kangaroos for a six-game tournament next weekend. The games take place Friday and Saturday, March 1-2 at Poly Wells Field.
Wichita State 3 – ACU 2 (9 (Inn.)
ACU's
Jillian Hefner and WSU's Caitlin Bingham were in a battle through four innings, each tossing scoreless frames, keeping the opposing offenses in check. However, it changed in the fifth inning.
Bailee Nickerson hit a home run to put the Shockers up 1-0 in the fifth, and ACU needed to respond against Bingham. It would happen in the sixth inning.
Kayla Keeling singled to center with one out, and after a fielders' choice and a throwing error, pinch-runner
Taylor McCoy came in to score to tie the game.
Samantha Bradley came in for relief of Hefner, and battled Bingham to get the game to extra innings tied at one run. An rbi-single in the top of the eighth gave Wichita State the lead, but ACU answered with a sacrifice fly from Bradley to score
Katelyn Belch. The game then headed to the ninth tied at two.
Nickerson, who hit the homer earlier, then hit an rbi-double to the gap in right center to give WSU the lead, but ACU would get another chance. With the runner on second,
Anna Grace Johnson walked. After a sacrifice bunt to move the runners,
Briana Tijerina walked to load the bases.
Calie Burris stepped up, but a double play ended the game and the Shockers walked out victorious.
Bradley suffered the loss in 3.2 innings of relief work, and
Kaitlyn Huseman led the way with two hits offensively.
UT-Arlington 2 – ACU 1
The Wildcats were the ones to grab the lead early in game two, as Johnson singled to put a pair of runners on, but a throwing error by the Shocker shortstop allowed Huseman to score. ACU led 1-0, but the Mavericks would put together some late-game heroics.
Bradley pitched all seven innings for ACU, but would suffer the loss late with a pair of runs on six hits. The fourth inning featured the game's tying run, when a sacrifice bunt pushed across a run.
The teams would trade scoreless innings to the seventh, when UTA took the lead on a sacrifice fly. ACU had the tying run at the plate three times in the bottom half, but went 1-2-3 to end the game.
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