ABILENE - Abilene Christian softball pitchers
Peyton Mosley and
Caitlyn Crain took turns cooling off the 19th-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buffs on a warm Friday evening at Poly Wells Field.
West Texas entered the doubleheader with a .321 batting average and 239 runs scored, but Mosley (8-5) held them to four hits en route to a 6-1 victory in game one, and then Crain (10-2) surrendered just five hits in a 4-2 ACU triumph.
The wins lifted ACU's season mark to 22-9 and Lone Star Conference mark to 8-5, while the Lady Buffs fell to 23-12 and 7-6.
The Wildcats scored single runs in the second and third innings of game one before putting the game to rest with a two-run fifth. Shortstop
Sara Vaughn led off the inning with a walk and scored two outs later on a RBI single by
Megan Brigance that made it a 3-0 game. ACU then caught a break when the Lady Buffs' third baseman Renee Erwin threw a routine ground ball wide of the first base bag, allowing Brigance to scamper home from second.
West Texas got a run back in the sixth when Kim LeComte blasted a solo shot, but Mosley afterward retired the last six batters she faced, including a strike out of Mercedes Garcia to end the game - her seventh of the night. Mosley also received two insurance runs off the bat of
Courtney Flanary, who clubbed a bases-loaded double with two outs.
Flanary and Brigance both finished game one 2 for 3 with two RBI. Both of Flanary's hits were for extra bases.
Crain picked up where Mosley left off and put down 11 of the first 13 batters she faced before hitting a spot of trouble in the fifth, where the Lady Buffs loaded the bases. But Crain escaped the jam by getting leadoff hitter Mallory Wyatt to pop up to Vaughn.
Crain was an out away from putting up another zero in the sixth, however, Meghan Brown sliced a double in front of a diving
Keanna Winkfield in center and Erwin followed with a two-run shot to right that cut the ACU lead to 3-2.
After ACU answered with a run in its half of the sixth, Crain returned to the circle and dealt anothre 1-2-3 inning. Second baseman
Kimberly Briggs made the final out after diving back toward right-center field and over Winkfield to catch a Garcia pop fly.
Winkfield and
Lyndi Smith paced the Wildcat offense in game two with two hits apiece. Winkfield singled and scored a run in the third, and in the fifth, Smith blasted her fourth home run of the year - a solo shot to deep center field.
Vaughn and Briggs ripped back-to-back run scoring hits to put ACU up 2-0 in the third.
Sarah Martinez made it a 4-2 game after delivering a RBI ground out.
The ACU and West Texas series concludes Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live and for free via the ACU Sports page at
YoeTV.
###
Abilene Christian 6, West Texas 1 (Mar 30, 2012 at Abilene, TX) (Game 1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
West Texas.......... 000 001 0 - 1 4 1 (23-12, 7-6 LSC)
Abilene Christian... 011 022 X - 6 8 1 (21-9, 7-5 LSC)
------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Pitchers: West Texas - Marci Womack and Meghan Brown. Abilene Christian - Peyton Mosley and
Erin Gilliland.
Win-Peyton Mosley(8-5) Loss-Marci Womack(11-7) T-1:56 A-127
HR WTAMU - Kim LeComte (8).
Weather: 89, Sunny
Abilene Christian 4, West Texas 2 (Mar 30, 2012 at Abilene, TX) (Game 2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
West Texas.......... 000 002 0 - 2 5 1 (23-13, 7-6 LSC)
Abilene Christian... 002 011 X - 4 8 0 (22-9, 8-5 LSC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: West Texas - Adriana Garcia and Meghan Brown. Abilene Christian - Caitlyn Crain and
Erin Gilliland.
Win-Caitlyn Crain(10-2) Loss-Adriana Garcia(4-2) T-1:46 A-127
HR WTAMU - Renee Erwin (6).
HR ACU - Lyndi Smith (4).
Weather: 89, Sunny
