The Wildcats hosted Tarleton this past weekend, run-ruling them in the first game, but fell in the series, 1-2.
A doubleheader was hosted between the two teams on Friday, splitting the day, 1-1.
In the first game on Friday, the Wildcats shut down Tarleton in five innings, 11-1.
In the first inning, Tarleton secured a solo home run, which concluded their scoring abilities for the afternoon. Tarleton held their lead until the third inning when ACU went on a hitting spree.
The run started when junior catcher Sydney Kaiser homered down the left field line, tieing up the score, 1-1. Soon after red-shirt pitcher Bubba Rote singled down to right field, bringing home senior outfielder Mercedes Eichelberger. In the next at-bat, junior catcher Avery Miloch hit a three-run home run to center field. With two outs and two on base, sophomore catcher Miranda Lista tripled to right field, bringing in two runs. To close out the scoring run for the Wildcats, Kaiser came back up to bat and singled on the left side, allowing Lista to score. ACU finished the third inning with eight runs bringing the overall score to 8-1.
Yet, the eight-run streak did not stop the Wildcats from making the deficit even greater. In the fourth inning with two runners on base, Lista sent a home run over the center field wall. This shot allowed the Wildcats to pull ahead by 10 runs and with the NCAA run rule of a team being ahead by eight finishing the fifth inning, the game ended 11-1.
While pitching all five innings, junior pitcher Talia Nielsen recorded two strikeouts and zero walks on five hits.
In the second game of the doubleheader on Friday, ACU fell in a close battle, 5-7.
The first inning was a strong scoring opportunity for both teams. Tarleton was able to score first off of a double down the right field line, scoring two runs. With bases loaded, the Wildcats walked two runners, sending in Tarleton players home. Tarleton finished the inning with four runs.
With the Wildcat batters coming up, they had to fulfill a deficit. With bases loaded, Miloch singled to shortstop, bringing in a run. At the next at-bat, red-shirt sophomore utility player Catrin Hoffman doubled down the right field line, sending home two runs. Finishing out the inning, sophomore infielder Logan Gaspar hit a sacrifice fly allowing the Wildcats to score, bringing the overall score to 4-4.
Then in the third inning, Tarleton was able to go up by three runs with two ground balls. Later in the seventh inning for their last chance at scoring, the Wildcats were able to gain a run on a double down the right-field line. This forced the final to 5-7.
Rote began pitching for ACU but only lasted for two outs when she gave up four runs on three hits. Graduate pitcher Lauren Schiek then came in to pitch for 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits. Then to close out for ACU, freshman pitcher Elizabeth Schaefer pitched for two innings, marking three strikeouts and no hits.
In the final game of the series on Saturday, Tarleton pulled a hefty lead in the last two innings gaining the win, 14-5.
ACU was able to pull out ahead early in the second inning with Miloch hitting a solo home run. Not long after in the third inning, Tarleton was able to take the lead by one. Yet the Wildcats did not allow that to stay for long. With two ground balls, ACU secured the lead again, going up by three.
In the fifth inning, Tarleton went on a scoring spree for the next three innings. In the sixth and seventh inning, Tarleton scored 10 runs combined, allowing the final score to come out to 14-5.
Nielsen started on the mound for the Wildcats again, pitching for six innings and allowing seven runs on nine hits. In the seventh inning, it took three more pitchers for the Wildcats to shut down Tarleton but Rote was finally able when she recorded the last two outs of the game.
The Wildcats next host Baylor at home at 3 p.m. Thursday for their second Big 12 opponent of the season, streaming on ESPN+.
