The Wildcats hosted Lamar this past weekend for their last matchup of the season, winning the series, 2-1.
The previous matchup between ACU and Lamar ended in a clean sweep for ACU in early March. In game one Friday night, ACU extended that sweep, gaining the win over Lamar, 6-3.
“It’s really big for our girls,” head coach Abigail Farler said. “We won five out of the six games and that’s a huge turnaround for our program. I think we just ran out of steam in the last game and they expended a lot of energy in the run-rule and scoring 16 runs so I think winning two out of three is a big deal.”
Graduate pitcher Sidney Holman-Mansell started on the mound for the Wildcats, securing her 11th win of the season. Holman-Mansell created eight strikeouts and only allowed five hits.
ACU started off in the second inning by gaining one run off of a single to left field. Soon after in the third inning, the Wildcats gained two more runs off of errors by Lamar, bringing ACU ahead by 3 runs.
In the fourth inning, Lamar started to rally up the runs. Lamar gained one run by a walk-in and two from a two RBI single to right field, tying up the score 3-3. Later in the fifth inning, the Wildcats were able to score two more unearned runs due to Lamar’s errors, pushing ACU in the lead, 5-3.
Then in the sixth inning, graduate infielder Calie Burris hit a solo home run, making it her fifth home run of the season and setting her batting average to .408, leading the team.
In game two Saturday afternoon, game one of the double-header, the Wildcats gained another win against Lamar, 16-4.
“Our mentality is we want to win everything,” Farler said. “We want to win the warm-up. We want to win the first inning. We want to win every pitch.”
Graduate pitcher Lauren Schiek, started for ACU, receiving two strikeouts and allowing two hits in three innings. Sophomore pitcher Riley White, came to relieve Schiek, gaining the win, in a short two innings.
Right off in the first inning, junior outfielder Sadie Eichelberger and freshman catcher Miranda Lista both hit a home run, putting ACU in the lead, 3-0. By the end of the second inning, the Wildcats were still in the lead with a score of 6-1. It wasn’t until the third inning when ACU started to really pull out ahead.
Starting with a walk by Lista, the Wildcats gained seven unearned runs in the third inning caused due to fielding errors by Lamar. ACU then scored three more runs in the fourth inning causing a run rule to end the game in the fifth inning.
In the second doubleheader game on Saturday, the Wildcats lost the close battle, 3-6.
“The second game just felt weird coming out,” Farler said. “It was hard to identify if we were relaxed or if we were pressing but it just felt like we never really got into a rhythm.”
Holman-Mansell started for ACU, facing 21 batters in four innings and allowing five runs out of five hits. Hannah Benavides, freshman pitcher from Deer Park, closed out for the Wildcats in the fifth inning, tallying two hits in 11 batters.
Lamar started off in the first inning with a solo home run, but sophomore catcher Avery Miloch was right behind, sending a solo home run over the fence in the second inning. Over the next three innings, Lamar kept racking up the runs, putting them ahead 5-2 at the end of the fifth. Lamar and ACU both gained one run in the seventh inning, bringing the game to the final score of 3-6.
The Wildcats also met UT Arlington on Tuesday where they received the loss 0-9.
Coming in, ACU knew this was going to be stiff competition. The Wildcats held off UTA for a while until the fifth inning when UTA went on a scoring streak. The Mavericks scored nine unearned runs in the fifth inning all off of Wildcat errors. Due to the scoring streak, UTA run-ruled the Wildcats, ending the game in the fifth inning.
ACU went through the whole pitching rotation bringing in Holman-Mansell, Schiek, White and Benavides for the span of five innings and a combined total of three strikeouts.
The Wildcats head on the road to Stephenville to take on Tarleton for a doubleheader Friday at 4 pm and 6:30 pm and Saturday at 1 pm for their last conference matchup.
