LAKE CHARLES, La.— The Wildcats closed out their opening weekend of conference play with two games against McNeese on Saturday afternoon. ACU played the Cowgirls close in both games but were unable to come away with a win. The team lost 1-0 in game one, before falling in walk-off fashion by a score of 4-3 in game two.
Game 1
The Wildcats matched the Cowgirls hit for hit throughout the game, but they were unable to bring in a run. An RBI single in the bottom of the third brought in the only run of the game and it would be enough for McNeese to earn the win over ACU.
Alivia Sinnott threw a solid game, giving up just six hits and allowing the single run. The Cowgirls went to their relief pitcher, Alexsandra Flores, after just four innings of work from their starter and Flores was able to shut the Wildcats down allowing just one hit over three innings of work.
Game 2
The second game saw more offense than the first but it was a nail-biter once again. This time the Wildcats would get on the board and put up two runs in the top of the third on RBI singles from
Calie Burris and
Val Rudd. The Cowgirls answered with a bases clearing double to go up 3-2 in the bottom of the inning and held the lead for two innings.
Samantha Bradley came up with a clutch RBI double in the fifth to tie the game but McNeese had the answer in the bottom of the seventh. The Cowgirls got a walk-off triple to bring in the winning run and sweep the series.
Stat pack
- Sinnott now has four starts where she has given up one or fewer runs.
- Bradley pitched well on the weekend, but also stepped up at the plate. She went 5-11 with two doubles and two RBI in the series.
- The Wildcats hit .345 as a team in the series finale.
- Sinnott was charged with the loss in both games as she made the relief appearance in game two.
-
Kayla Keeling had a productive day at the plate going 3-4 with a double while drawing two walks.
Farler Figures
On how her team competed: "I'm really pleased with the fight I saw out of the team today. They played great defense, pitching did a great job of keeping us in the game and our offense put the ball in play consistently. Unfortunately we were missing the timely hits today to put us over the edge."
On what the team can add to this performance to get back in the win column: "We made clutch outs this weekend that shut down their offense when they had opportunities to get momentum going. We were missing the clutch hits to really break the game open when we had runners on."
On preparing for the Nicholls series over spring break in Louisiana: "We are excited to get great practices in over the break while we are out of school and can focus on softball. We plan on being very intentional with our time this week, developing our culture and chemistry while getting reps in that we need on the softball field."
Up next
The Wildcats will be on the road once again next weekend as they travel to Nicholls for their second conference series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday at 5 and 7 p.m. and close out the series at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
