Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls State
Ladyjacks Sweep Nicholls
4/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 19, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin took both games in a series-ending doubleheader against Nicholls State Sunday at Hoya Field to complete the Ladyjacks' weekend move from sixth to second place in the Southland Conference softball standings. SFA notched a 6-0 win in the first game and squeaked out a 1-0 verdict with a late run in the finale to unseat the Colonels, who came into the weekend as the league's second-place team.
With the sweep SFA improves to 26-21 on the season and 15-9 in SLC action, good enough for a second-place tie with McNeese State, heading into the final two weeks of the season. Nicholls State fell to 29-19 overall and 14-10 in league play.
In Sunday's first game, SFA got a strong outing from starting pitcher Lauren Luetge and backed up that effort with solid production at the plate.
Both teams went scoreless through the first three-and-a-half innings before SFA broke through with four runs in the bottom of the third. Freshman Jessica Arana led off with her first career home run, After fouling off three pitches from Nicholls' Audrey Wood, she sent a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left-center.
The next batter, Kari Hugie, lined out to third, but Kendal Harper followed with a double to right-center. The next batter, Crystal Garcia, was hit by a pitch, and Kayla Gutowski lifted a double to the wall over the right fielder's head, scoring Harper and putting runners at second and third. Briana Bishop ripped a ground ball to first base. Nicholls tried to cut down Garcia at home, but she beat the throw with a head-first slide, giving SFA a 3-0 lead.
In the next at-bat, the Ladyjacks worked the double steal to perfection. Bishop broke for second on the pitch, and Gutowski swiped home, despite a strong throw from the second baseman who cut off the toss from catcher Haley Burkett. Bishop took third on the play but was tagged out after oversliding the bag.
SFA put up two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Kim Daley got a two-out double to left to start things off. Ashley Struchtemeyer moved her to third with a single through the left side. Struchtemeyer took second on the throw. The next batter, Karissa Jones poked a single into left, scoring Daley. Arana then ripped a base knock to left, bringing Struchtemeyer in from third.
Meanwhile, Luetge allowed just one hit over the final three innings and faced just four batters over the minimum for the game. She evened her record at 9-9 with the win. Luetge scattered three hits over seven innings with one strikeout and didn't allow a walk.
In the second game, SFA's Monika Covington spread four hits over seven innings, and the Ladyjacks pushed a run across in the bottom of the sixth to finish off the sweep.
Nicholls Starter Lacey Gros held the Ladyjacks without a hit and allowed just three runners to reach base through the first five innings.
But SFA loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the sixth. Hugie led off with a single. Pinch-runner Candise Juarez moved to second on an errant throw off a sacrifice bunt by Harper. Garcia followed with a bunt single, loading the bases. Then Gutowski brought home what proved to be the winning run when she grounded into a double play, scoring Juarez.
Covington hit the first batter she faced in the top of the seventh, but recorded two strikeouts and got the benefit of a runner leaving early to close out the game.
Covington (17-11) recorded 10 strikeouts and walked two batters on the way to her seventh shutout victory of the season.
The Ladyjacks will take on Louisiana Tech in a non-conference road game on Wednesday before facing first place Texas State on the road in a three-game series next weekend.
-- SFA --
