COLUMBIA, Ky. – The Lindsey Wilson softball team made its 2024 home debut in style on Friday afternoon, sweeping Union (Ky.) behind some late game heroics and a perfect game.
"To play a real game and be done with practice, we were excited," expressed head coach Callum Pilgrim. "It's always nice to have a home opener and then to wait the extra week and feel as prepared as we did was great."
The Blue Raiders outhit the Bulldogs 16-6 on the day, earning three hits apiece from
Kelsie Bostock and
Natalie Wandrie. The hosts also recorded four home runs from three different players, including one dramatic moonshot in the twin bill's opener.
Game One: Lindsey Wilson 5, Union 4
Madyson Jones had not logged a hit in her previous three plate appearances when she stepped into the box in the bottom of the seventh inning. This at-bat carried more significance, however, as the sophomore represented the winning-run with one out on the board.
On the first pitch she saw, Jones launched a fence-clearing hit over the trees in left field to plate herself and
Brylee Pickerell and win the game for Lindsey Wilson.
"I was feeling good," explained Jones. "They were throwing everything outside, but I like hitting inside and she threw me one up that I got on top of and could really get out."
The walk-off hit capped off a late rally for the Blue Raiders that began back in the sixth frame where Union led 4-2.
Elizabeth Funk led off the bottom half of the sixth with a double to right-center field, then was later sent home off the bat of
Kayley Bruener to trim the deficit to a single run.
Lindsey Wilson's next, and final at-bat opened with a strikeout, but quickly turned around on a Pickerell double down the right field line. After that, it was all Jones.
Despite the Bulldogs' leading by as many as two runs, the visitors had multiple chances to extend their advantage with bases-loaded situations in both the top of the sixth and seventh innings. Still, the Blue Raider relievers did what they had to do to keep their offense within striking distance.
K'Asia Palmer checked into the circle for Lindsey Wilson in the seventh inning and earned her first win of the season after allowing zero runs on one hit and striking out one. Fellow freshman Bruener started on the rubber and went 4.1 innings before finishing with five strikeouts and two earned runs on four hits.
Another first-year for the Blue Raiders,
Natalie Wandrie, opened the scoring for the day in the second inning with a two-run home run, her first of the season.
Game Two: Lindsey Wilson 8, Union 0 (5 Innings)
Kayden Murray pitched masterfully for Lindsey Wilson in game two, recording the program's first perfect game since 2020. The freshman ended up retiring all but four of the minimum 15 Union batters she faced on strikes.
"It felt really good," said Murray postgame. "It was an overall, really exciting day and the team just kept going out there and giving it our all."
With Murray dealing from the circle, the Blue Raider offense went to work at the plate right from the get-go.
In the bottom of the first inning, Jones added to her game-one home run with a second shot to center field. Three batters later, Bostock picked up her first hit of the game and drove in Funk on an RBI-single. The early barrage continued soon after off the bat of
Natalie Shaw, who's single to the grass plated Bruener, building the lead up to 3-0.
Then, in the third, Bruener got in on the action with a lead-off home run to left-center field, followed shortly by a two-run RBI-double from Wandrie, who eventually made it back around on an infield grounder by
Kendall Dailey to balloon the Blue Raiders' cushion to 7-0.
An RBI-single by
Katie Lorenz to score
Olivia Franceschi in the fourth inning cleared the way for Murray to end game two early.
Lindsey Wilson is back on the dirt at 3 p.m. CST on Wednesday, February 28 at Bryan (Tenn.).
