McKENZIE, Tenn. – The Blue Raider softball team clinched its third Mid-South Conference series win on Friday afternoon, sweeping Bethel (Tenn.) on the road.
Lindsey Wilson was led by
Sam Hartman and
Natalie Wandrie, who combined to drive in seven runs on four hits, apiece.
Nora Epley also contributed four hits and scored a team-high four runs.
Game One | Lindsey Wilson 6, Bethel (Tenn.) 5
The Blue Raiders outlasted the homestanding 'Cats in a back-and-forth game one.
Bethel got on the board in the bottom half of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. That early advantage held steady until the top of the third frame when Lindsey Wilson struck to jump in front.
Hartman found her way on thanks to a one-out walk, then
Kaiden Rodgers, Wandrie, and
Katie Lorenz connected for three consecutive base-hits, each scoring one run, to give the visitors a 3-1 edge.
The Wildcats hit back with their own three-run inning in the bottom leg of the third to carry a 4-3 lead into the fourth, but a two-out RBI-single by
Brylee Pickerell in the next half-inning quickly knotted the score. Still, Bethel pieced together a response and plated one for itself in the bottom of the fourth frame.
After both sides went silent in the fifth, the Blue Raider offense clicked, again, in the sixth.
McKenna Ingram reached on a lead-off walk, then moved up to second on an infield single by Epley. The two runners each gained an extra base on a subsequent groundout, bringing up Hartman. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Hartman punched the ball into the gap in left-center field, sending home Ingram and Epley as the tying and go-ahead run, respectively.
From there, reliever
Kayden Murray dealt two hitless innings to secure her second save of the season and a win for
Grace Adams.
Adams pitched 1.2 innings and allowed no runs on two hits after starter
Hallie Roberts went 3.1 innings and struck out six.
Game Two | Lindsey Wilson 7, Bethel (Tenn.) 1
The Blue Raiders scored in early in game two, as Hartman jumped right out of the gate with her team-leading fifth home run of the season in the first inning. The two-run bomb included Epley who had doubled to lead-off the frame just moments prior.
Bethel tallied its lone run in the bottom of the first but was held scoreless over the next six innings by
K'Asia Palmer and Roberts.
Meanwhile, in the third inning, Epley led things off with a walk, followed by back-to-back singles by
Atavya Fowler and Hartman to load the bases. The next batter, Wandrie, wasted no time inflicting damage with a two-run RBI-single.
Later in the frame, Hartman came around to score on a Wildcat throwing error, and Wandrie eventually scored on a sacrifice flyout by Lorenz to increase the Lindsey Wilson cushion to 6-1.
The Blue Raiders tacked on their seventh run two innings later in the fifth when Wandrie and Pickerell opened the frame with consecutive base-hits.
Roberts checked in for relief of Palmer in the bottom leg of the fifth inning and held Bethel to just one hit over in her three innings of work. Palmer garnered the win in the circle with one earned run on six hits and one strikeout across four innings. The sophomore improves to 3-0 this season, including 2-0 in conference play.
Lindsey Wilson and Bethel close their series at 1 p.m. CST on Saturday, April 19.
