The Wildcats made a return to the Southland Conference Tournament Wednesday. The game finally occurred after a 24-hour rain delay that changed the location of the game.

The first-round single-elimination game was held in Hammond, Louisana, at 7:30 p.m, with senior pitcher Samantha Bradley on the mound to face the Lions.

Scoring opened in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single for the Lions. They followed up at the bottom of the second inning with another RBI single, leaving Southeastern up 2-0 going into the third inning.

ACU finally ended their scoreless drought in the top of the third when senior outfielder Blakeli Brookreson scored on a throwing error by the Lady Lions. Southeastern then responded in the bottom of the third, scoring on a sacrifice hit to make it a 3-1 ballgame in the Lady Lions favor.

The game remained at this score till the top of the 6th inning. With two outs, freshman catcher and third basemen Avery Miloch hit an RBI ground-rule double, scoring Bradley who was already on base, followed by a game-tying single from senior infielder Katelyn Belch.

The game was tied going into extra innings. Then, the game came to a close in the eighth inning, when the Lady Lions walked off on a single to left field.

Two stand-out players for the Wildcats from this game were Miloch and Bradley. Miloch was two for four at the plate with an RBI, while Bradley pitched seven innings, giving up just four runs while stranding 10 runners.

“Her (Bradley) and Kayla were a great battery; they were calling pitches themselves and figuring out how to get out of those jams themselves.” said head coach Abigail Farler. “So, they deserve a lot of credit stranding that many baserunners; it was really cool to watch them have a plan and succeed with it.”

The Wildcats look to continue their late-season momentum into next year in their new conference, the Western Athletic Conference.