Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls
SFA Splits With Colonels
5/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 7, 2011
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin softball team got a walk-off home run from Amber Price Saturday in Game 1 against Nicholls, helping the Ladyjacks split the series-opening doubleheader against the Colonels at SFA Field. Price's homer came on a 1-0 pitch to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and give the Ladyjacks a 1-0 verdict in the opener. SFA would go on to drop Game 2, 5-0.
The split takes the Ladyjacks to 14-35 on the year with a 9-20 record in Southland Conference play. Nicholls moves to 14-37 overall and 6-22 in league action.
Freshman Carlie Thomas (9-11) got the win in Game 1 after scattering five hits over eight innings of action. She walked two and set a career-best with 10 strikeouts.
The Ladyjacks got two extra-base hits early in the game with Lauren Luetge doubling in the first and Krista Hallmark doubling in the second. But Luetge was stranded at third after swiping a base, and Lacy Liles was thrown out at the plate on Hallmark's hit, ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless. In all, SFA left eight runners on, including a bases-loaded opportunity in the seventh.
Thomas got some help from her defense to keep the Colonels off the board. In the fifth, Whitney Roan singled sharply off Thomas' glove with two out. The ball bounced to Elizabeth Arana at second base. She didn't have a play at first but was able to catch Tsade Joubert in a run-down between third and home to end the inning.
Nicholls put two runners on with one out in the top of the eighth, but Arana was able to throw across the diamond to force the lead runner at third for the second out, and shortstop Bethany Brown did the same on a sharply hit ball that took her toward third to end the inning.
SFA put up six hits as a team with Luetge's 2-for-4 performance leading the way. Price, Charlotte Singleton, Liles and Hallmark each hit safely once.
The Colonels found some offense in the second game. Nicholls took a 2-0 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Ashley Ray and an RBI single off the bat of Megan Granger.
Granger drove in a third run with a single up the middle in the fifth to make it a 3-0 game. Then Ray put the game away with a two-run homer in the top of the seventh.
The Ladyjacks, meanwhile, could only muster three hits off Nicholls starter Carlee Winkelmann. Arana smacked a leadoff double in the first but was stranded there. The only other SFA hits in the game were Brown's single in the fourth and Cadie Weaver's infield hit in the bottom of the seventh.
Monika Covington (5-19) started and went the distance for the Ladyjacks. She was charged with four earned runs on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
The Ladyjacks and Colonels will wrap up the series Sunday with a single game scheduled for a noon start. Seniors Covington and Luetge, along with senior support staff, will be honored in a brief ceremony before the game.
-- SFA --
