CONWAY, Ark. - In a top-four American Midwest Conference matchup and its final road series of the regular season, William Woods University (26-15, 16-4 AMC) won its fifth straight, sweeping Central Baptist College (24-22, 13-7) for its second sweep on the road in as many days Saturday at City of Colleges Park. The Owls beat the Mustangs 4-2 in 12 innings in Game 1, and they won by the same score in Game 2, but in the standard seven innings.
In both games, not much separated the two teams, and in the opener, that was even more apparent as William Woods scored four runs on nine hits and committed one error while Central Baptist had two runs on eight hits and made an error.
Momentum shifts occurred throughout the contest. The Mustangs had the upper hand first, going in front 1-0 when Elizabeth Stoufer scored on a wild pitch four batters after reaching on a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second. Central Baptist doubled its advantage two innings later on Taviah Bradley's RBI single through the left side.
Flip the frame, and the Owls controlled the tempo and tied it at 2. William Woods's
Mariah Prince smacked a one-out RBI single to left field that scored
Rylee Hagens, and right after that,
Lexi Lewis, who had a game-high three hits, advanced home on
Jessica Keilholz's fielder's choice.
After Prince's one-run base hit, the Owls didn't have a hit until extra innings. The Mustangs had two hits between the fifth and seventh, one of them a leadoff single to begin the bottom of the seventh. WWU starter
Taylor Baumhoer regrouped from that, forcing the first out on a sacrifice bunt before punching out two straight - her second strikeout with a runner on third base - to send Game 1 to extra innings.
Although Baumhoer is a freshman, she already has experience and has thrived in extra-inning games at the college level. Baumhoer displayed that by posting four consecutive 1-2-3 innings to begin extras.
The Owls' bats finally rewarded Baumhoer for that tremendous effort in the top of the 12th, taking the game-deciding lead on
Taylor Lorenz's pinch-hit, one-out RBI double to left-center field that plated international rule runner
Corynne Miller. Woods increased its lead to 4-2 with pinch runner
Jaden Swift taking third base on a wild pitch before scoring on a throwing error by CBC's catcher.
Despite giving a free pass to the first Mustang and putting runners on first and second base to start the bottom of the 12th, Baumhoer calmly worked her way through the situation, getting CBC to ground out to third base for the first out, sending a Mustang packing for the second out and forcing a popout to first base for the game-winning third out.
Baumhoer (10-6) used 222 pitches in her 12-inning win, fanning an impressive 17 batters while giving up just two earned runs, walking four and hitting one batter.
"A come-from-behind in Game 1 had lots of exciting moments, from diving plays to strikeouts in big moments," William Woods softball coach
Tracy Gastineau said. "
Taylor Lorenz came in with a big pinch-hit double that put us up for good."
While Game 2 didn't require more than seven innings, both teams had seven hits and no errors, but the Owls still scored four runs, and the Mustangs again lost by two with two runs.
Unlike Game 1, William Woods went in front early, going up 1-0 in the first frame thanks to
Brooklynn Spillman's RBI two-bagger to left center with two outs that drove in leadoff hitter Lewis, who registered a leadoff single three batters prior.
Speaking of three, the Owls extended their lead to 3-0 in the third inning. With Lewis scoring the second of her game-high two runs,
Ella Aguiar sent the softball out of the park in right field to produce all of her game-high two RBI.
Central Baptist didn't go down without a fight, trimming it to a one-run game in the bottom of the sixth. The Mustangs roped an RBI single up the middle with one out and a one-run base hit through the left side with two outs.
Helping out WWU starting pitcher
Sarah Randermann, the Owls plated a run in the top of the seventh to heighten their advantage to two runs. On the second of back-to-back singles, Hagens sent
Sammy Lohnes home on her single up the middle. During the same at-bat, Lohnes recorded the first of the Owls' two stolen bases in the seventh. Lewis also swiped a bag in the inning, her AMC-leading 33rd on the season - she has 12 more than any other player in the conference.
Randermann (11-8), the AMC leader in ERA at 1.69 - one of four arms in the conference with a sub-2.00 ERA - tossed her fifth straight complete-game victory. The senior from Columbus, Texas, struck out three, walked one, hit a batter and allowed two earned runs.
"Game 2, we struck early, then had a big hit/RBI in the seventh by Rylee to add to our one-run lead," Gastineau said. "A big week, going 5-1 in AMC games."
William Woods will play in front of its home crowd for its final series of the regular season, facing mid-Missouri foe Stephens College (14-20, 8-8 AMC) in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday at Backer Sports Complex in Fulton. To secure second place and the No. 2 seed in the AMC Tournament over (RV) Columbia College (26-12, 17-5) without a tiebreaker scenario, the Owls must win both games against the Stars.
