Box Score
JACKSON, Miss. -- The William Woods University softball team couldn't find the big hit on Monday afternoon, as a seventh inning rally falls short dropping the first game of the NAIA National Tournament to Belhaven University 2-0.
William Woods (24-15) was held hitless over 6.1 innings by the Belhaven University's (36-12) Katy Adair. That would end in the seventh as Ilissa Facchini and Lindsey LeCuru collected back-to-back hits, but the Owls were unable to captalize, falling 2-0.
Both pitchers recorded four strikeouts each during the first two innings of the game, but it was Belhaven who poised the first scoring threat of the afternoon.
MacKenzie Bowden walked the first batter of the game for the Blazers, after a sacrifice bunt Belhaven had a runner in scoring position with one out. The Owl's ace would buckle down and promptly strike out the next two batters to hold the runner at second.
Macy Wierschem started off the third inning by working a walk, then Caroline Sicht's sacrifice bunt moved the catcher to second base, giving the Owls a similar situation that Belhaven had in the first inning. Sydnae Hatton attempted a slap hit and was forced out at first, but Wierschem tried to advance an unoccupied third base but was tagged out by a heads up play for the Belhaven infield.
Jordan Cole led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk, and she would score on a Courtney Fairley RBI double, giving the Blazers a 1-0 lead. Belhaven would collect two more hits in the inning, including a two-out RBI single by Haley Yasses, to take a 2-0 lead going into the fifth inning.
Lindsey LeCuru reached base on an infield error to lead off the fifth, but would be quickly erased from the base path, as Kristy Pluchinski hit into a 5-4 fielder's choice. Belhaven committed its second error of the inning as they tried to double up Pluchinski on the play and allowing her to advance to second base. Adair would settle down as she got the next two batters to pop out, stranding Pluchinski at second.
William Woods went quietly in its half of the sixth inning. Bowden would get the Blazers to go 1-2-3 in their half of the inning as the Owls trailed 2-0 going into its final at-bat for the game.
After a strikeout to start off the seventh, Ilissa Facchini would single up the middle to break up Adair's no-hit bid with one out in the inning. Lindsey LeCuru followed that up with a single of her own putting runners on first and second with one out. A weak grounder by Pluchinski advanced the runners one base, but Belhaven was able to get the out at first, leaving William Woods with runners on second and third with two outs in the inning. DePew ended the afternoon by grounding out to second on the first pitch in the at-bat, giving Belhaven the 2-0 victory.
Bowden went toe-to-toe with Adair, by striking out eight batters in six innings, but suffered the tough loss.
With the eight strike outs Bowden is now William Woods' all-time leader in career strikeouts with 586. The junior surpassed Saysha Sappenfield's record of 581 strike outs.
The Owls will face LSU Alexandria in an elimination game tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. LSU-A was defeated this afternoon by Rienhardt College 1-0. It was a tough loss for LSU Alexandria as they only allowed one hit to Rienhardt that resulted in a first inning RBI.
The Lady Generals finished as the runner-up in the Association of Independent Institutions Tournament, closing out their season with a record of 22-28, as they fell to Houston-Victoria (Texas) 2-1 in the Championship.
LSU-A are batting 0.284, with Jaci Trahan leading the team with a 0.342 average, leading the team in hits (53), runs (28), doubles (14), and total bases 69. Raquel Granados is another power hitter for LSU Alexandria, as she is batting 0.306 (44-for-123) with 23 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples and four home runs.
The pitching staff has totaled a 4.49 ERA and is led by starter Logan Hebert with a 16-18 record and a 3.86 ERA in 196.0 innings pitched. Hebert is the lone pitcher who has started double-digit games for the Lady Generals.
