Todd Ryals

Missed Opportunities Haunt Wildcats in ASC Split

2/10/2017 10:31:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The Louisiana College Lady Wildcats softball team opened its 2017 American Southwest Conference scheudle on Friday night as they hosted the Concordia University Tornados. The Wildcats were able to escape 10 Tornado hits in game one to pick up the victory 4-1, but could not put the visitor away in game two, leaving 10 runners on base in route to a 4-3 defeat, and a split of the Friday double-header.

Game 1

The Wilcats jumped out early in the first game of the night scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Lead off batter, Shelby Bergeron, drew a walk and then ended up at third base after a sacrifice bunt and fly ball to right from the next two Wildcats hitters. With Bergeron at third with 2-out, clean up hitter Mattie Stine came through with a shot into left center field for a double, scoring Bergeron from third. Shea Smith, followed Stine's double with a bullet of her own into left center, plating Mattie from second, and giving LC a 2-0 cushion after one inning of play.

LC added to their lead in the next inning, after a quick top of the second on defense. A 1-out single by catcher Haley Vezinat and an error on a ground ball by the short stop, put runners at first and second with the top of the lineup at the plate. Walters advanced the runners 60 feet on another sacrifice bunt, allowing Moran Wampler to bring them in with a single up the middle, putting the Wildcats up 4-0 at the end of the second inning.

Concrodia would threaten the next two innings but come up empty, and still trailed by four entering the fifth inning. The Tornado were finally able to manufacture a run after back-to-back singles to start the inning, and a sacrifice bunt put them at second and third with 1-out. A ground ball to second scored the runner from third and a throwing error allowed the trail runner to advance to third with 2-out in the inning. Starting pitcher for the Wildcats, Taylor Leger, got the next batter to pop up to Vezinat behind the plate to end the inning and the threat.

The Tornados threated one more time in the sixth inning after a 2-out double to dead center put, brought the tying run to the plate, but once again Leger shut the door on the rally, forcing the next batter to bounce one right back to her for the easy out at first base. Although the Wildcats only had four hits in the game, they came at the right time, leading to their first conference win of the season.

Taylor Leger picked up her third win of the season in three starts, going 5.0 innings, allowing one run and scattering seven hits, with two strikeouts. Chelsea Lewis threw the final 2.0 innings of the game, giving up three hits, no runs and striking out one. Morgan Wampler went 1-for-3 in the game with the one a 2-run single in the first inning. Stine, Smith, and Vezinat had the other three hits in the game for the Wildcats.

Game 2

Just as they did in the first game of the night, the Wildcats jumped out quickly on the Tornado with some early runs. Shea Smith started things in the bottom of the second with a single up the middle, followed by a double from Jordan Mason to right center, putting runners at second and third with no outs. An RBI groundout by Taylor Hammock plated Smith from third and moved Mason to her spot with 1-out. A walk to the next batter put runners at the corners with still only 1-out in the inning.

A delayed steal by Morgan Dennis allowed the next run to score when the catcher strayed too far from home trying to catch Dennis in no mans land, allowing Mason to slip in behind her and steal home. With runners at first and second with 2-out in the inning, Sami Walters poked a ball through the right side, allowing Dennis to score from second base and give LC a 3-0 lead at the end of the second with their ace Savannah Settle in the circle.

Settle cruised through third inning, and looked to be on the way to two straight quick innings after getting a grounder and a strikeout to start the fourth, but Concordia found three straight hits starting with a double to the right field line. Back-to-back single after that scored their first run of the game, making it 3-1 Wildcats going to the bottom of the fourth.

In the next two innings, the Wildcats would leave runners at second and third twice. A pair of infield singles from Bergeron and Walters then a passed ball put two Wildcats in scoring position in the fourth, but were left there after a ground ball to second ended the inning. Then in the fifth a single and a steal of second put runners in scoring position, but another ground ball to second ended the inning with no runs coming across.

Those two ground ball outs would come back to haunt the Wildcats in the top of the sixth, when, with 2-out and runners on second and third for Concordia, Brittani Whitten cleared the wall in left field bringing in three runs on one swing and giving the Tornado a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning. LC had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the inning but another ground ball out left the tying run standing at third base. Then in the seventh inning, a walk, an advancement on a groundout, and a wild pitch once again put the tying run at third, but another ground ball right at an infielder ending the game for LC, with the tying run at third base.

Savannah Settle was saddled with a tough luck loss, her second of the season, going 7.0 innings allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out eight batters. The Wildcats out hit Concordia 9-7 in the second game but were unable to get the timely hit when they needed it most in the later stages of the game. Shelby Bergeron went 3-for-4 in the game and Sami Walters and Shea Smith both had a pair of hits in the game.

LC will wrap up this three game series with Concordia on Saturday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m. The Wildcats will be on the road for the next two weekends in a row as they travel to Ozarks next weekend and Howard Payne the following weekeng, before their next home series against Sul Ross State at the beginning of March. Stay connected with Louisiana College softball by following @LC_sftball on Twitter or liking LC Athletics on Facebook.

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