Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls State
Ladyjacks Split With Nicholls
4/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 12, 2008
THIBODAUX, La. - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team spent six hours on a bus Friday to get to Thibodaux, La., for its weekend series with Nicholls State. Saturday, the Ladyjacks spent even longer than that on the diamond, and came away with a split in the series-opening doubleheader.
Following a 1 p.m. start, both games went to extra innings for a total of six hours, 20 minutes of softball. SFA won the opener but dropped the second game, both contests ending in one-game verdicts.
The Ladyjacks move to 27-16 overall and 14-5 in Southland Conference play.
It took 13 innings, nearly four hours, and a record performance by freshman ace Monika Covington, but the Ladyjacks posted a 6-5 win in the series opener. Covington set a new season-high with 20 strikeouts, and SFA played small ball in the top of the 13th to collect the win.
After the two teams went scoreless in the 12th inning, freshman Ashley Struchtemeyer bunted sophomore Briana Bishop from second to third to start the 13th, and junior Moriah Davis brought her in with a sacrifice fly to right field, giving SFA a 6-5 lead.
The game ended when catcher Kim Daley fielded a wild pitch off the screen and flipped to Covington, who tagged out Tori Lay trying to score from third.
Covington was touched for three earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks as she moved to 15-7 on the season.
SFA opened the scoring in the fourth inning, when Struchtemeyer doubled Bishop in from first base with a line drive to the right-center field gap. Bishop had reached base on a single up the middle.
Covington held the Colonels without a base runner through the first three innings, fanning seven of the nine batters she faced. But Nicholls got its first runner and first run in the bottom of the fourth. Kat Harrell led off with a base knock, then tied the score at one when she scored from second on a double by Danielle Clayton.
The Ladyjacks went ahead by two with a three-hit sixth inning. Struchtemeyer began the rally with a two-out base hit up the middle. Davis chased her with a single through the right side of the infield, and Daley brought them both home with the first of her two doubles in the game -- this one to the gap in right-center.
Nicholls State responded in like fashion, posting a two-run bottom half with all the damage coming after the second out had been recorded.
The game stayed knotted at three until the 10th inning, when the conference tie-breaker policy dictates that each half-inning start with a runner on second base. Bishop took advantage with a two-out triple to the right-field corner, scoring Kendal Harper, who had begun the inning on second base.
In the bottom of the 10th, Nicholls tied the score with a leadoff double, but Covington retired the next three batters in order to send the game to the 11th inning.
SFA began the 11th with Struchtemeyer on second, and Davis moved her over to third with a sacrifice bunt. The next batter, Daley, lifted a double off the left-field wall to score Struchtemeyer.
Nicholls answered with a run in the bottom half and looked poised for the winning score on Nicole Smith's base hit to left field, but Monica Hirsch came through with an outfield assist to gun down Audrey Wood attempting to score from second.
Struchtemeyer went 3-for-5 with a double and one RBI to lead SFA at the plate. Bishop, Davis and Daley each added two hits, and Daley finished with a game-high three RBI. Bishop's hit was her first triple of the season.
The game was SFA's fourth extra-inning contest of the season and, at three hours, 27 minutes, the longest of the year.
SFA came from behind to take a 5-3 lead in the second game, but Nicholls tied it in the seventh, then won it when Kodi Butler beat out a ground ball to score the winning run of the 6-5 victory in the eighth inning.
The Ladyjacks again drew first blood in the second game, this time taking advantage of a Nicholls State miscue to get on the board. Tullos led off with a single, then moved to second when Bishop drew a walk. Both batters moved ahead a base on a double steal, then Tullos scored when the ball got away from the Colonels' third baseman. After a walk, Nicholls State escaped further harm when the Colonels notched a twin killing on an attempted double steal.
The Colonels used three hits and a Ladyjack error in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead.
SFA knotted the score at two with a pair of hits in the third inning. Daley led off with a single back through the box. After a sac bunt by Garcia and a ground-out by Hirsch moved Daley to third, Harper brought her home on a two-out base-hit rocket to center field.
Nicholls State went back ahead by one in the bottom half and nearly gave itself a two-run lead, but Hirsch charged hard on a bloop base hit down the left-field line and threw out Wood at the plate for her second assist of the day.
Davis led off the SFA fifth with a double down the left-field line, then scored on a bases-loaded fielder's choice to second base by Hirsh. The Ladyjacks took a 5-3 lead when Harper blasted a double over the center fielder's head to the wall, scoring two runs.
Freshman pitcher Lauren Luetge held Nicholls scoreless through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and recorded two outs in the seventh before the Colonels tied the game on a two-run homer off the face of the scoreboard in left field.
SFA couldn't get anything going in its half of the eighth, and Nicholls got to relief pitcher Kari Hugie for two hits and a run in the bottom half for the win. Hugie moved to 2-5 on the season. Luetge finished with three earned runs on 11 hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
The Ladyjacks will wrap up the weekend series Sunday with a single game starting at noon.
-- SFA --
