ARLINGTON -
Talia Nielsen's complete game, six-hitter was supported by a 14-hit offensive assault as Abilene Christian softball captured game one of its series at UT Arlington, 8-1, Friday night at Allan Saxe Field.
The victory lifted ACU's WAC record to 5-8, while the Mavericks slipped to 6-7.
Four Wildcat starters finished with a multi-hit game, including senior
Mercedes Eichelberger, who went 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot with two RBI. Freshman DP
Sammie Shelander went 2-for-4 with a first-inning home run - her fifth of the year, while middle infielders
Miranda Lista and
Logan Gaspar went a combined 5-for-8 from the No. 7 and 8 spots with two runs and two RBI.
Lista ripped three hits tonight, the last of which was a two-run single up the middle off UTA reliever Gracie Bumpurs that pushed ACU's lead to 7-1. Pinch hitter
Shaylee Alani followed with a RBI single past the out-stretched glove of shortstop Kimber Cortemelia, capping a huge four-run seventh for the Wildcats.
Meanwhile in the circle, Nielsen was her efficient self in winning for the seventh time this spring, averaging 12 pitches (88 pitches / 59 strikes) and four batters faced per inning. The Mavericks tagged her for one run on two hits in the first, but were very quiet afterward. The home team left two aboard in the second, and in the fourth, a leadoff single was soon erased by a perfectly executed 6-3 double play by Gaspar and
Catrin Hoffman.
That twin killing started a streak of 10 consecutive retired batters by Nielsen, as no Maverick reached base until pinch hitter Meagan Smith drew a two-out walk in the seventh. Smith went nowhere though as Nielsen promptly finished her gem with a swinging strikeout of Nikki Donahue.
ACU broke the 1-1 tie in the second as three straight Wildcats reached base with one out. Catcher
Sydney Kaiser skied one to right field, far enough to plate Hoffman from third base, and Eichelberger slapped a hard double off the first baseman's glove to make it a 3-1 game.
The Wildcats continued to put runners on base every inning but wouldn't hit paydirt again until the sixth when Eichelberger singled home pinch hitter McKinley Clark, who began the inning with a single.
Back-to-back leadoff hits by Shelander and Emma Rote got the offense rolling once more in the seventh, where the Wildcats sent nine batters to the plate. All five hits that inning were singles, as ACU counted three extra-base knocks among its conference game season high 14 hits.
The Wildcats and Mavericks conclude their series Saturday with a noon doubleheader.
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