Stephen F. Austin
Florida Atlantic
Ladyjacks Blank Owls in Baton Rouge
3/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SFA 4, FAU 0|BSU 3, SFA 1
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Stephen F. Austin softball team cooled off one of the hottest teams in the nation with two long balls on Saturday afternoon in LSU's Purple and Gold Challenge, blanking Florida Atlantic 4-0 inside Tiger Park. The Ladyjacks were also edged by Ball State 3-1 during the second day of the tournament.
The Ladyjacks (6-9) and Owls (15-2) were locked in a scoreless ballgame into the fifth inning before Lewis opened up the scoring with a three-run home run down the left field line with two outs. Taylor LeFlore singled to the gap in right-center and Heather Hollingsworth drew a walk to get into position for Lewis' third long ball of the year.
Freshman Taylor Fraccastoro padded SFA's advantage to 4-0 after cranking a solo homer to center field to lead off the sixth inning. The dinger was also the third of the season for the Ladyjack catcher.
The Ladyjacks didn't need further run support as Hannah Welch was lights out inside the circle. Welch (2-0) allowed six hits in seven scoreless innings and walked two to warrant the winning decision.
The SFA win snapped a 14-game winning streak for the Owls.
In the back end of Saturday's two-game affair, SFA scored first but couldn't hold off Ball State in a 3-1 defeat. Hollingsworth scored the Ladyjacks' lone run on a Cardinal error in the first inning. Despite recording just three hits on the day, Ball State scored three more runs to slip by SFA.
Freshman Callee Guffey (2-4) earned a quality start by surrendering three runs on three hits over a complete seven innings. She walked two, struck out three and was pegged with the loss.
The Ladyjacks will wrap up the Purple and Gold Challenge on Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. against No. 7 LSU.
-SFA-
