The Wildcats finished 3-2 overall this weekend at the Midwestern State Invitational. ACU played one game Friday, before playing two games each on Saturday and Sunday.
The Wildcats would drop their opening game Friday against Midwestern State as the Mustangs held ACU to one hit. Midwestern State’s Brittney Tanner would shut out the Wildcats, as she struck out seven on her way to a 3-0 victory.
The Wildcats would rebound Saturday with a pair of victories against Arkansas Tech University and Incarnate Word. In the first game ACU hit Arkansas Tech hard, as the Wildcats put up 17 hits in only 6 innings. ACU scored four runs in the first and added three more in the second. ACU would add three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings as the Wildcats would run rule the Golden Suns 13-2.
“We played pretty well this weekend. You can’t play much better than we did Saturday, as we had 35 hits and no errors in two games of work,” Head Coach Bobby Reeves said. “We have now won six of our last nine with conference play starting this weekend, so hopefully we will be ready to go.”
The bats would stay alive in the second game as ACU scored 10 runs against Incarnate Word in route to a 10-3 victory against the Cardinals. The game remained closed through the fourth as ACU put up single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 3-1 lead into the fifth. ACU would score four runs in the fifth to put the game away. Brianna Fowlkes, Kara Stutesman and Ashley Calles would all hit RBI doubles in the fifth as the Wildcats routed the Cardinals 10-3.
“I think we played really well this weekend. We have struggled with our defense this season and this weekend in our second and third games we did not have an error,” pitcher Brittany Rexroat said. “We have been working on defense a lot in practice and we have gotten tons better than from earlier this season.”
ACU would finish the tournament Sunday by splitting a pair of games. ACU would get shutout in the first game by Fort Hays State 5-0, before pulling out its closest game of the invitational defeating St. Edwards 5-4.
“I think there is always things you can work on as a team,” Reeves said. “We are swinging the bat well as we are hitting above .300. Pitching and defense has steadily improved this season, and hopefully will continue to improve while our offense continues to do well.”
The 3-2 record this weekend improved the Wildcats to 14-13 overall this season. ACU will travel to Portales, N.M. on Friday to take on Eastern New Mexico University in a three-game weekend series. This will be ACU’s first Lone Star Conference series.
“Overall we just want to enter conference on a positive note and know that we can do well in conference,” Rexroat said. “We just have to stay focused and keep working at it. “
