COLUMBIA, Ky. – Behind clutch pitching and timely hitting, the Blue Raider softball team grounded the visiting Phoenix with back-to-back shutout victories.
The wins on Wednesday clinch Lindsey Wilson its fourth conference series win of the season and secure the Blue Raiders a Mid-South record of 0.500 or better.
Nora Epley racked up a team-best four hits on the day, including three in game two.
Kendall Dailey drove in three runs on two hits, and
Atavya Fowler and
Natalie Wandrie each contributed two runs batted in.
Game One | Lindsey Wilson 8, Cumberland (Tenn.) 0 (5 Innings)
A five-run outburst by the hosts in the second inning helped create the separation necessary to take game one.
After both sides went hitless in the first frame, Lindsey Wilson got to work in the second as consecutive infield errors allowed
Brylee Pickerell and
Kaiden Rodgers to reach and move into scoring position. The next at-bat,
Olivia Franceschi dropped a single into shallow center field to plate Pickerell and give the Blue Raiders a 1-0 lead.
A subsequent walk to
Katie Lorenz loaded the bases for Epley, who sent an RBI-single into right field to score Rodgers. Fowler continued Lindsey Wilson's barrage moments later with a hard-hit, two-run single up the middle, then
Sam Hartman joined in to score Epley on a sacrifice flyout.
In the third inning, Pickerell led off and doubled to the gap in the right-center before eventually coming home off the bat of
Kendall Dailey, extending the lead to 6-0.
The nail in the coffin came in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Wandrie launched a 1-0 pitch to straight-away center field for her fourth home run of the year. Her explosive hit also sent home Hartman who had walked the previous at-bat, but more importantly, it gave Lindsey Wilson a chance to end the game early in the fifth.
K'Asia Palmer entered the circle to close the game for the home side after
Kayden Murray work through the first four innings. The Phoenix put runners at first and second base but failed to score as a perfect throw from
McKenna Ingram in left field to Rodgers behind the plate caught the lead runner and went down as the final out.
Murray collected her 10
th win of the season, allowing zero runs on two hits and striking out six.
Game Two | Lindsey Wilson 5, Cumberland (Tenn.) 0
Hallie Roberts fire the third complete-game shutout of her career to guide the Blue Raiders in game two. The freshman held Cumberland without a hit through the first three innings, walked two batters, and retired a half-dozen on strikes to earn her fifth win of 2025.
Offensively, Lindsey Wilson struck, again, in the second inning. This time, Rodgers took first base on a one-out walk, then Dailey reached after being hit by a pitch. Following a strikeout,
Natalie Shaw stepped up and delivered an RBI-double to the grass to plate Rodgers. The very next batter, Epley, added to her day by placing a two-run base hit down the right field line.
The Blue Raiders carried a 3-0 lead into the fifth frame. Once there, Dailey rose to the occasion and lined a hit to the left field corner, plating Wandrie and Hartman in the process.
The rest came down to Roberts and the defense behind her, and they did not disappoint.
Cumberland went down in order in the top of the sixth inning, and despite producing one hit in the seventh, could not muster up anything to rattle Roberts.
Lindsey Wilson will conclude its regular season with the Phoenix at 10 a.m. CST on Thursday, April 24 at Marilyn D. Sparks Park.
