ABILENE—The Wildcats came to play on Sunday afternoon as they earned a 9-0 win over UIW to take the series and keep their postseason hopes alive.
Samantha Bradley has been on another level in the circle over the past two weekends winning her fourth-straight start today with a second-consecutive shutout. The redshirt senior pitched 12 shutout innings on the weekend and gave up just two hits over five innings of work on Sunday.
It was Bradley who got the offense going as well for the Wildcats. She sent a well hit ball to center that was mishandled resulting in an error that allowed Bradley to make it to second. With just one out in the inning the Wildcats drew consecutive walks to load the bases before UIW could get the second out on a popup. With two outs,
Caroline Adair and
Donelle Johnson each earned an RBI when they were hit by pitches in consecutive at-bats to get the scoring started for ACU.
Val Rudd then cleared the bases with a two-out triple to give ACU the 5-0 lead.
The Cardinals threatened in the top of the fourth with back-to-back singles to start the inning but
Calie Burris was able to earn the unassisted double play at first with a diving effort to tag the base after catching a tough line drive. ACU put up four more runs in the bottom of the inning, including a double steal that saw Johnson safe at home, that put the game out of reach for UIW. Bradley shutdown the Cardinals in the top of the fifth to earn the run-rule victory.
Stat pack
- Going back to her last outing at Nicholls, Bradley has now thrown 15-straight scoreless innings. She has also had four consecutive games without giving up a walk.
- With four stolen bases in the game, this is the Wildcats' fifth game of the year with four or more stolen bases.
- With her fourth triple of the season, Val Rudd now sits tied for the most in the Southland on the season.
Up next
The Wildcats will be back at home next weekend to close out the regular season. The team will host a three-game series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with a doubleheader Friday night and a single game Saturday. Saturday afternoon there will be a senior day ceremony prior to the game with a graduation ceremony and barbeque afterwards.
