COLUMBIA, Ky. – Defense was on full display between the Lindsey Wilson softball team and Shawnee State (Ohio) on Wednesday afternoon. The non-conference doubleheader produced six total runs on 16 hits and eventually led to a split.
Kendall Dailey and
Brylee Pickerell each turned in two hits for the Blue Raiders, while the host's pitching staff combined for 17 strikeouts.
Game One | Lindsey Wilson 1, Shawnee State (Ohio) 0
Kayden Murray fired her third complete-game shutout of the season and extended her scoreless streak to 13 innings as the Blue Raiders fended off a late threat by the Bears to win game one.
The sophomore limited Shawnee State to three hits, giving up the first in the fourth inning, and posted nine strikeouts in the process. Murray's biggest test of the game came in the seventh frame when the Bears loaded the bases with one out and sent their top two hitters to the plate. Despite a good battle, Murray stood strong and forced a pop-out and fly-out to secure the victory.
Lindsey Wilson's lone run, and ultimately winning-run, scored in the bottom of the second inning. Pickerell led-off with an unconventional single to second base, taking help from the windy conditions. She worked her way around the bags on an infield error, a bunt, and then an RBI-sacrifice bunt by
Katie Lorenz to break the deadlock.
Behind Murray's pitching and the Blue Raiders' defense, Pickerell's run held up the rest of the way.
Game Two | Lindsey Wilson 1, Shawnee State (Ohio) 4
The Bears moved quickly to start game two. Fielder's choice hits and squeeze bunts by the visitors in the top half of the first inning pushed across two runs to create an early 2-0 deficit for Lindsey Wilson.
In the bottom leg of the frame,
Nora Epley and
Sam Hartman connected on a base-hit, apiece, with the latter of the two plating Epley to trim Shawnee State's lead in half.
From there, the home side struggled to solve the Bears' infield as Lindsey Wilson closed game two with 15 groundouts.
Meanwhile, Shawnee State tacked on one run in the third inning and another in the sixth.
Grace Adams started for the Blue Raiders, working 3.0 innings and allowing one earned run on two hits with two strikeouts.
Hallie Roberts pitched the last four complete innings and retired six on strikes to go along with one earned run on three hits.
Lindsey Wilson returns to its Mid-South schedule at 3 p.m. CST on Monday, April 7 when the Blue Raiders host Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) at Sparks Park.
