College Station, Texas—Wildcats softball had a solid start to their season opening with a 1-1 start at Davis Diamond in College Station. The Wildcats faced one of the toughest pitching performances they could see all season against the Aggies falling 7-1 to open the day. The team would not be phased as they came back out to face the Mavericks of UT Arlington later in the day taking the game 4-2.
Game 1
The Wildcats saw one of the toughest pitching performances from a top pitcher in the SEC. Kayla Poynter pitched a complete game with a career-high 16 strikeouts. Poynter carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but ACU spoiled it with a late RBI. Freshman,
Val Rudd, had a solid collegiate debut both defensively and at the plate. While she didn't register a hit, Rudd was one of few Wildcats able to put the ball in play on the day and drew a walk in the seventh.
Blair Clayton followed Rudd with a single into the left-center gap and coach Farler had no second thoughts about sending her freshman around third for a play at the plate. The throw came up short and the Wildcats plated their only run of the game.
Game 2
After getting a game under their belts, ACU was ready to make some noise in the nightcap of the Aggie Classic. A
Lacy Johnson walk and subsequent steal set up
Kaitlyn Huseman for her first RBI of the season with a single down the left field line and ACU held the 1-0 lead through two innings. The Mavericks came back and put two runs of their own on the board in the top of the third, but the Wildcats had an answer.
Caroline Adair led off the bottom of the third inning with a triple and
Val Rudd took her opportunity to drive in Adair for her first career RBI. Clayton reached on a single and
Samantha Bradley reached on an error to load the bases.
Tori Poullard drew a walk to bring home another run and a wild pitch brought home a third run to give ACU the 4-2 lead, which held up for the win.
Stat pack
- Alivia Sinnot earned her first collegiate win in the UTA game. The sophomore, mid-season transfer came to ACU from USF.
- The Wildcats scored five runs on the day with four different hitters registering RBIs, the fifth run was scored on a wild pitch.
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Blair Clayton led ACU going 2-6 on the day with one RBI and one run scored.
- Freshman
Val Rudd had a solid collegiate debut going 1-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
- After striking out 16 times as a team against A&M, the team only had three strikeouts against UTA.
- The Wildcats hit .333 both with runners on and runners in scoring position against UTA.
- Clayton's hit against the Aggies broke up a no-hitter.
Farler Figures
On struggling at the plate against A&M: "We didn't have enough competitive at bats. We had a few but it wasn't enough to get anything going until the 7th inning."
On her players coming out ready to play in game two: "We came out with energy and confidence and played the game we practice every day, aggressive and fast paced. The team played unified and faced a lot of adversity. I was very proud of how they had each other's back especially after Val took a big hit at first base and had to leave the game."
On getting things going offensively against UTA: "Lacy really stepped up for us today and made a great impact! It was awesome to see Caroline get a triple to start the third inning for us as well."
On being prepared for tomorrow: "I hope to see us keep the momentum from this win and keep competing in every area of the game with confidence. Alivia threw a great game for us. I'm excited to see what she along with Sam and Jill do tomorrow."
Up next
ACU will continue play at the Aggie Classic with a doubleheader tomorrow. The start times for tomorrow's games were moved up an hour due to weather. First pitch against UTA is now scheduled for 9 a.m. with the Texas A&M game schedule to start at approximately 11:15 am.
