COLUMBIA, Ky. – The Blue Raider softball team extended in non-conference win streak to four games on Wednesday afternoon by adding a sweep of Bryan (Tenn.) at Marilyn D. Sparks Park.
Lindsey Wilson totaled four home runs on the day as part of its 17 total hits and survived a marathon in game one before coasting in game two.
Tanlee Hudgins and
Kayley Bruener paced the home side with three hits apiece and combined for eight of the team's nine runs batted-in.
Game One: Lindsey Wilson 9, Bryan 7
Shifts in momentum defined the first of Wednesday's doubleheader. In all, game one saw three lead changes and 16 runs on 24 hits.
Hudgins stood at the forefront of all the action as she compiled a career-high five runs batted-in behind her second-straight three-hit game.
Bryan opened the scoring in the top half of the first inning, posting two runs on three hits. Lindsey Wilson, however, answered back quickly in the bottom leg of the frame, starting with a solo home run from Pickerell, her third in four games. Hudgins continued the response and singled home
Elizabeth Funk three batters later to tie the game at 2-2.
Following a scoreless second inning, the Lions tacked one on in the third, but their second lead was just as short-lived as the first. The next half-inning, Hudgins was heard from, once more, in the form of a monster three-run home run to left field. Her first blast of the season pushed the Blue Raiders ahead 5-3.
The visitors did not go away and eventually retook the lead with four runs in the top half of the fourth inning.
An RBI-single by
Kendall Dailey in the subsequent half-inning pulled the Blue Raiders within one run. Then, in the fifth frame, Hudgins struck, again.
The sophomore teed-up the first pitch she saw of her third at-bat and tied the game with a no-doubter to the left field fence. Lindsey Wilson carried that energy into the bottom of the sixth and grabbed the lead for good on a bases-loaded error by Bryan that plated
Aimee Flynn and
Natalie Shaw.
Reliever
Savannah Robbins proceeded to retire the Lions in order in the top of the seventh, solidifying her third win of the season. The junior worked four complete innings and surrendered two earned runs on seven hits while striking out two.
Game Two: Lindsey Wilson 6, Bryan 0
Kayden Murray dealt her third shutout of the season and matched a career-high with 12 strikeouts to help the Blue Raiders roll in game two.
The freshman allowed one Lion in the second inning but buckled down to retire the final 18 in order.
Lindsey Wilson's offense, in the meantime, benefited from five Bryan errors, including one that ultimately got the scoring started in the first inning. After a passed ball allowed Pickerell to sprint home, an errant throw in an attempt to catch her gifted
Natalie Wandrie a lane to break for the plate, too. Once the bases were cleared, Bruener stepped up and outlasted the Lions' pitcher with a solo home run down the left field line, her second of the season.
Bryan fell into more bases-loaded trouble in the fifth inning. What started as a sacrifice flyout by Hudgins to score
Olivia Franceschi turned into a series of throwing miscues that also scored Pickerell and Shaw to extend the host's lead to 6-0.
Murray and the defense did the rest from there and guided Lindsey Wilson to its third consecutive victory.
The Blue Raiders return to their Mid-South Conference schedule this weekend with a road trip to Lebanon, Tennessee to play Cumberland University. Day one of the series is slated to begin at 1 p.m. CST on Friday, March 29.
