Stephen F. Austin
Kentucky
Ladyjacks Beat Nicholls, Fall To Kentucky In Lafayette
3/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 2, 2012
LAFAYETTE, La. - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks (6-12) split the first two games of the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational Friday, hosted by Louisiana-Lafayette. SFA will be back in action Saturday with two more games, starting with another showdown against Kentucky at 11 a.m., followed by a non-conference game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6:30 p.m.
Game 1: SFA 2, Nicholls State 1
Ladyjack starting pitcher Angela White (3-4) tossed her third complete game victory of the season, allowing just one earned run on six hits to help lead the Ladyjacks to a 2-1 win over Nicholls State (4-11) in a non-conference matchup Friday morning. White also struck out four and worked around six walks thanks in part to inducing 12 Colonel groundouts.
SFA jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning when, after two quick outs, first baseman Elizabeth Arana doubled to right center to jumpstart a rally. Following a Cadie Weaver walk, left fielder Bethany Brown then drove home the first run of the game with another double to right center off Nicholls' starting pitcher Katie Moulder.
Weaver later came up in the third inning and delivered the biggest hit of the game, connecting on a solo homerun to left field that increased SFA's lead to 2-0 on her team-leading second HR of the season.
That score would prove to be the winning run, because Nicholls responded with one run of their own in the bottom of the third inning on a RBI double from shortstop Kat Angeles that brought home Megan Gaspard to make the score 2-1 in favor of SFA.
Both teams went scoreless the final four innings and a Nicholls seventh inning rally was put to rest when White got Angeles to ground out to second base to end the game with the tying run in scoring position.
Game 2: Kentucky 8, SFA 1
The Ladyjacks hung tough with Kentucky (8-7) for four innings before the Wildcats erupted for seven combined runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
SFA's lone run came on an RBI single from Elizabeth Arana in the third inning, which at the time gave SFA a 1-0 lead.
Carlie Thomas (3-6) took the loss for the Ladyjacks, going six innings while allowing eight runs (four earned), on 10 hits and three strikeouts.
After Kentucky tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the third, the Wildcats then pushed across three more runs in the fifth inning, all of which came with two outs.
The Wildcats' Lauren Cumbess (2-2) earned the victory in the circle for Kentucky by going five innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits.
Four Kentucky players had multiple-hits, including three a piece from Kara Dill and Brittany Cervantes.
--SFA--
