Todd Ryals

Lady Wildcats Split Saturday DH with Lobos

4/21/2018 9:56:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information - Brad Welborn

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

After a dramatic extra inning victory on Friday night the Louisiana College softball team returned to action early on Saturday with a series finale doubleheader with Sul Ross State University. Eight unanswered runs in game one led to the Lobos 8-3 win but a complete game gem from Lucy Lewis got the Wildcats the win in the final 3-2 to win the series. The Wildcats will close the 2018 regular season at home next weekend with another American Southwest Conference series against Belhaven University.

Game 1

The Wildcats scored the last run of the Friday series opener and after two scoreless frames to start Saturday, plated the first run of the twin bill. An RBI single to right from Mattie Stine brought in Sami Walters from third, but the potential second run was thrown out at the plate to keep the game at 1-0. The Wildcats added to their lead in the fourth, starting the inning with four straight hits, the final one a Taylor Hammock single to left that plated a run. A sacrifice fly from Haley Vezinat made it 3-0 before back-to-back grounders ended any further scoring threat.

The Lobos came right back with three straight hits to start the bottom of the inning including two run scoring doubles in a row that cut into the LC lead, making it 3-2 after four innings. Sul Ross wasn't done there however scoring three unearned runs in the bottom of the inning with 2-out on another base hit and double to take a 5-3 lead. The onslaught continued in the sixth with three more runs coming across without the benefit of a hit. Three walks, a hit batter, and two wild pitches allowed the Lobos to all but secure the win with an 8-3 lead going to the final inning.

The Wildcats out hit Sul Ross 10-6 in the game but fell victim to their own mistakes in the loss. Stine and Briley Johnston each had a pair of hits in the game and LC used four different pitchers with Lewis taking the loss in game one.

Game 2

The second game of the day began in the Lobos' favor, striking first on a 2-run double in the bottom of the first, one of their three hits to start the game of starting pitcher Lucy Lewis. After the shaky start, the senior settled into the game and kept the score the same the rest of the way. She allowed just three hits the rest of the day and six total base runners in the final six innings of play.

With Lewis spinning a gem in the circle, the Wildcat offense were searching for an answer of their own at the plate. Lobo ace Jackie Gonzalez faced the minimum number of batters, 12, between the second and fifth innings, with four straight 1-2-3 frames. It wasn't until back-to-back singles by Sami Walters and Shelby Bergeron that the Wildcats had any sort of scoring threat in the game. With speed on the bases Mattie Stine put one in the gap and let Walters and Bergeron do their thing to tie the game, with Stine ending up on third after everything was said and done. A ground ball to short from Abby Sterling brought in the go ahead run and in the span of four batters the Wildcats went from down two to up one at 3-2.

With the shoe on the other foot as the Lobos were trying to find an answer for Lewis, Sul Ross ran out of out to find the solution. Lewis retired six of the next eight batters to end the game and secure the series victory for the Wildcats.

Lucy Lewis (5-7) picked up the win going the full 7.0 innings, scattering six hits allowing just two runs with four strikeouts. Sami Walters went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Mattie Stine was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. All five of the Wildcats hits came from the first three batters in the lineup.

The Wildcats end the regular season with a three game series in Pineville against Belhaven beginning on Friday night at 6pm. Senior festivities are scheduled for Saturday with the season finale doubleheader set for 2pm.The Wildcats currently sit in the sixth spot in the eight team postseason race, just 2.0 games behind the University of Texas at Dallas for fourth and 1.0 game behind Concordia (Texas) for fifth. UTD and CTX face off in the final weekend as the Wildcats play Belhaven. Stay connected to Louisiana College softball by following @LC_sftball on Twitter or liking Louisiana College softball on Facebook. For general athletics news follow @LC_Wildcats on Twitter or like Louisiana College Wildcats on Facebook.

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