Softball got back to its winning ways with sweep of long-time division rival Incarnate Word this weekend with two wins Friday and one win on Saturday.
On Friday the Wildcats won both games of the double header 4-3 and 11-2, finishing off the sweep with a 6-1 victory on Saturday.
“Preseason prepared us for Southland,” junior Peyton Hedrick said. “We are a great team offensively, defensively, and pitching, we just have to show up and get it done,” she said.
The first game, Hedrick opened up the game with a single up the middle to put the first run on the board for the Wildcats. She struck again in third with a solo home run to push the lead to 2-0. Senior Kaleigh Singleton got involved in the scoring acting when she drove in two runs in the fourth for a 4-0 lead.
But the Cardinals responded for three in the fourth and looked poised for a comeback, but the Wildcats slammed the door shut behind solid defense and pitching from the tandem of freshman Sidney Holman who went four innings and Hannah Null the final three. The duo combined for six strikeouts in the win.
“Everyone came to play,” said senior Casey May-Huff. “We executed in all three aspects of the game which is really important against a team like that.”
The second and third games were much larger margins of victory of the Wildcats, as Null gained her 9th win and pushed her record to 9-12 as her team blasted the Cards 11-2 in game two. ACU piled on three in the first inning when junior Holly Neese singled and brought in Hedrick. Throwing errors later brought in Neese and freshman Braegan Hamilton for a 3-0 lead.
The hit parade continued in the fifth and sixth innings wrapped up by a three-run moonshot from junior Brianna Barnhill for a 9-0 lead. The Cards found life and scored twice but ACU added on two more for the 11-2 final.
In game three , Hedrick would tie the program record for doubles in a game with three. Her first brought in a run in the first inning to give ACU a 1-0 lead. The lead was pushed to four on a Neese single that brought in two and an illegal pitch scored Hamilton. Doubles in the sixth from Neese and Hedrick dealt the final blows despite surrendering a seventh inning run in the 6-1 win.
Senior Taylor Brown also broke the program record for runs scored in a career with number 149 and 150 coming in Saturday’s game. Brown was tied with the previous record holder Katie Bryan entering the game, but pushed passed Bryan in the first inning on a Hedrick double and added to the record in the sixth, scoring Hedrick’s third double of the contest.
The series win pushed ACU to 26-16 with a 15-3 conference record. The Wildcats now have a four-game win streak, after they defeated in Nicholls State in last weekend’s series finale.
The losses dropped UIW to 8-34 and a 3-15 conference record. The Wildcats return to Poly Wells Field on Wednesday for an out of conference game with UNT followed by a three-game series at Sam Houston State.
