RIO GRANDE, Ohio – The Lindsey Wilson softball team extended its non-conference winning streak to six games on Monday afternoon, sweeping Rio Grande (Ohio) behind a few excellent pitching performances.
Freshman
Kayden Murray snatched two wins on the day, firing a complete-game effort in game one before adding 4.2 innings of work in game two. All told, she recorded 20 strikeouts across 11.2 scoreless innings to improve to 13-5 this season. Murray also surrendered only four hits and did not walk a single Red Storm batter.
Offensively,
Brylee Pickerell batted 4-for-8 with a double and triple,
Olivia Franceschi continued her recent surge with three hits, and
Kelsie Bostock drove in three runs on two hits.
Game One: Lindsey Wilson 2, Rio Grande 0
Murray tallied multiple strikeouts in all but the fifth inning of game one, as she finished her first outing of the day with a career-high 14 strikeouts. Only one of those strikeouts went down looking.
Her twin bill-opening performance is the eighth of the year in which she has retired at least 10 at the plate.
The hosts put forth a spirited showing on the rubber, as well, featuring nine strikeouts from starter Madison Ogden. In fact, the game was hitless until a triple off the bat of Pickerell in the third inning plated Dailey for the Blue Raiders' first run.
Rio Grande earned its first hit to lead off the bottom of the third frame, but Murray proceeded to shut down five of the next six Red Storm batters on strikes to spoil any momentum.
Back-to-back hits from Dailey and Pickerell in the top of the seventh inning provided the visitors with an insurance run, and a three-up, three-down half-inning to follow sealed the deal.
Along with Pickerell and Dailey, Franceschi and
Melaina Tucker also contributed base-hits for Lindsey Wilson in game one.
Game Two: Lindsey Wilson 3, Rio Grande 1
The Blue Raiders got to work early in game two. Following a walk to Dailey and a single by Pickerell,
Natalie Wandrie stepped up and bunted the pair up a base. Bostock was next and dropped an infield grounder to the left side to score Dailey and give Lindsey Wilson a 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, the leadoff tandem of Dailey and Pickerell struck again with consecutive hits and were similarly moved up on a bunt by Wandrie. The clean-up hitter Bostock subsequently delivered and drove a two-run RBI-single to center field to extend the edge to 3-0.
Rio Grande managed its lone run of the day in the bottom leg of the third inning to cut the deficit to 3-1.
From there, the pitching combination of Murray and
Savannah Robbins stifled the home side to no runs on two hits over the final four innings.
The latter of the two navigated two complete frames of relief and picked up one strikeout in the process.
Lindsey Wilson comes back from its non-conference detour to visit No. 5 Cumberlands (Ky.) this weekend in Williamsburg.
