March 15, 2008

Box Score

THIBODAUX, La. - The Colonels pulled through in the first game to win 2-1, but fell 6-3 in extra innings in the second contest against Houston Baptist on Saturday afternoon in the Colonel Softball Complex.

"I thought that we played well in the first game and had some timely hits to go along with good defense, but the second game got away from us at the end," said head coach Jenny Parsons.

In the first game, senior Jessica Barksdale led the Colonels (12-15) to their fifth victory in their last six contests by tossing a complete game one-hitter against Houston Baptist to get the 2-1 victory. Barksdale improved to 2-4 on the season with the victory as she fanned seven in her complete game while only walking three.

The Huskies (15-5) drew first blood as they put one on the scoreboard in the first inning, and the score would remain that way until the bottom of the fifth when senior Kat Harrell stole third and a throwing error by HBU catcher Lauren Leatherwood allowed her to score. Harrell finished the game 2-for-3 with a run and two stolen bases.

The Colonels then added one more in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore Nicole Smith singled up the middle to score sophomore Gabby Lemaire from second, which proved to be the game winner. Lemaire was pinch running for sophomore Audrey Wood who singled in her at bat to centerfield. Wood finished 2-for-3 while Smith finished 1-for-3.

Houston Baptist came out with a vengeance in the second game as they scored three runs in the top of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. In the inning, senior Krystalin Ensminger gave up two earned runs on a two RBI double by Kaitlin Southerland. The other run was unearned and came in light of a throwing error by junior Haley Burkett that allowed Southerland to score to round out the inning.

The score remained 3-0 in favor of the Huskies until the bottom of the fifth when Harrell led off the inning with a double to centerfield. Sophomore Kodi Butler then reached on a fielders choice that brought up Wood who hit a RBI single to left field to score Harrell.

Sophomore Leah Bland followed up with a RBI single that scored Butler to round out the inning. The Colonels added one more in the bottom of the sixth on a pinch hit RBI single by true freshman Megan Powell to tie it up, 3-3. Both teams failed to score in the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, Houston Baptist rallied with two outs to score three runs to take a 6-3 lead which held for the victory. Nicholls was charged with two errors in the inning that led to all three runs being unearned.

Picking up the loss for the Colonels was senior Krystalin Ensminger who gave up seven hits and six runs while striking out eight. Only two of the runs charged to Ensminger were earned.

Leading the Colonels at the plate in the second game was Butler who finished 2-for-5 while Harrel Wood, Bland, Powell and Burkett each had a hit.

The Colonels will be back in action next Friday when they travel to league-leading Texas State to play a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.

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