The softball team improved their record to 14-7 in the Southland Conference with two wins, both on walk offs, out of three games against Sam Houston State University.
The first game ended in a 5-2 win for the Wildcats on Friday night, after junior Casey-May Huff smashed a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning. Sam Houston got off to an early lead by crushing a two-run homer in the third before senior Cara Hoover hit a home run to make the score 2-1 in the fourth.
The final runs came from Huff’s game-winning grand slam. Redshirt sophomore Hannah Null pitched a complete 7.0-inning game, allowing two runs on two hits with five strikeouts.
ACU also won the second game, 9-8, with eight different players recording at least one hit. The scoring started in the first inning with an RBI ground out by sophomore Holly Neese and continued into the third with a two-run home run by freshman Miranda Herron to put the Wildcats ahead, 3-0.
Sam Houston scored five runs in the fourth to take the lead, but ACU caught up in the fifth with an RBI double by Hoover and an RBI single by Huff to tie it up at 5-5. Sam Houston snatched the lead again in the top of the seventh by scoring three runs, bringing the score to 8-5 with ACU having one last at bat.
Junior Taylor Brown singled up the middle in the bottom of the inning, allowing sophomore Brianna Barnhill to score. Herron smashed a bases loaded double for the Wildcats, bringing all three runs home, to take the lead 9-8 and win the game.
Null started the game and pitched 4.0-innings with five runs on six hits before senior Julia Montoya relieved her in the fifth. She went on to pitch 2.0-innings, giving up two runs, before Huff finished out the game and snagged the win with 1.0-inning of work, one strikeout and one run.
The Wildcats fell short in Saturday’s final game, which ended in an 7-2 loss. Sam Houston racked up five runs starting in the third inning and managed to keep ACU off the board until the bottom of the fifth, when sophomore Peyton Hedrick tripled and scored two RBI, to make the score 5-2. Sam Houston scored again in the seventh to finish the game at 7-2.
Null pitched a solid 4.0-innings with four runs, six hits and two strikeouts, which pushed her season strikeout total past 100. Freshman Allison Turner finished the last 2.0-innings of the game with three runs, five hits and one strikeout.
The Wildcats are now 21-19 overall and will take on Baylor University in a non-conference game on Wednesday in Abilene before heading to Texas A&M – Corpus Christi for the final conference series of the year.
