BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Lindsey Wilson softball team split their first two games of the Mid-South Conference tournament on Thursday and fall into the consolation bracket.
The Blue Raiders led off the day with a 3-2 victory over Georgetown (Ky.) before running into the top-seeded Patriots of Cumberlands (Ky.) in the afternoon.
Brylee Pickerell and
Brooklynn Becker each churned out four hits for the day, while
Olivia Franceschi led the team with three runs batted-in.
In the circle,
Kayden Murray fired two complete games and totaled nine strikeouts.
Game One: Lindsey Wilson 3, Georgetown 2
The top of the order put in the work for the Blue Raiders against the Tigers, as Becker, Pickerell, and
Kendall Dailey combined for six of Lindsey Wilson's seven hits.
Georgetown opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning on a lead-off home run, but Murray regrouped to retire the next five consecutively, including three-straight on strikes.
The recovery on the rubber set up the Blue Raiders at the plate. A single by
Melaina Tucker with one out in the top of the third inning got the gears grinding for the designated visitors. A follow-up base-hit by Becker and a subsequent ground out positioned two runners in scoring position for Pickerell. The senior jumped on a 3-1 pitch and sent the ball to deep left-center field for a go-ahead two-run double.
After a scoreless fourth frame, Becker and Dailey connected on back-to-back hits in the fifth to extend the Blue Raiders' lead to 3-1.
The Tigers managed to push a second run across in the bottom half of the sixth but were shutdown by Murray and the defense in the seventh to seal a Lindsey Wilson victory.
Murray's conference-leading 16th win of the season included eight strikeouts, one walk issued, two earned runs, and six hits.
Game Two: Lindsey Wilson 3, No. 4 Cumberlands 10
Lindsey Wilson gave the fourth-ranked and top-seeded Patriots all they could handle in the early stages of the contest. In the end, however, Cumberlands flexed its offense and pulled away to defeat the Blue Raiders by seven runs.
The Patriots found the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second inning behind a two-run home run, then Lindsey Wilson countered with a hit of its own.
In the top of the third inning, Pickerell and
Natalie Wandrie reached with respective singles before Franceschi teed-up a line-drive three-run missile over the left field fence for her second home run of the season.
The Patriots eventually restored their lead in the fourth frame and ultimately stretched the cushion to seven runs by the end of the sixth.
Lindsey Wilson fights to keep its season alive at 11 a.m. CST on Friday when the Blue Raiders take on Cumberland (Tenn.) in an elimination game. A win against the Phoenix earns Lindsey Wilson a second game at 6:30 p.m. CST versus either Georgetown or Campbellsville (Ky.).
