DENTON, Texas—In their final game of the North Texas Invitational, the Wildcats pushed it to extra innings with some late game heroics. The team was held scoreless through the first six innings, trailing 3-0 in the top of the seventh. RBI's from
Moriah Ortiz,
Caroline Adair, and
Blair Clayton tied the game but ACU was unable to take a lead with their rally.
Samantha Bradley held her own in the bottom of the seventh sitting down the batters in order and forcing extra innings. ACU was unable to get anything going in the top of the eighth, going down in order and they hoped their defense could hold going into the bottom half of the inning. The Skyhawks got a lead off single and were able to advance the runner to third with a sacrifice bunt and another single. A sacrifice fly scored the runner from third and the Skyhawks walked it off in the bottom of the eighth.
Stat pack
- The Wildcats stranded eight runners on base.
- Redshirt freshman,
Moriah Ortiz got a pinch-hit RBI for her first RBI in three plate appearances.
- Both
Blair Clayton and
Samantha Bradley had doubles in the game.
-
Kayla Keeling drew two walks and had a hit for an OBP of .750.
- Bradley had a season-high six strikeouts in the game.
Farler Figures
On the teams resilience to tie the game late: "I'm proud of the girls for finding a way to tie the game late and start competing, though we were capable of adjusting earlier and not having to play with our backs against the wall late in the game. They worked together to find a way to put 3 runs on the board."
On using this week to prepare for a tough weekend slate: "Next weekend we will have five more great games. We know that we need to clean up a lot of little things to be able to walk away with wins. I think everyone saw how important it is to execute the small pieces of our offense and defensive strategy throughout games to have them fall in our favor. We put ourselves in a bad spot with too many mistakes throughout this weekend's games. We have a plan this week and know what we need to clean up. The girls are ready to get two productive practices in to improve and move forward."
Up next
The Wildcats will have the week to prepare for their tournament in Youngsville, La. this weekend. The team will play five games as part of the Mardi Gras Mambo hosted by SLU, beginning with a game against Detroit Mercy on Friday at 3 p.m.
