MORRISTOWN, TN – Walters State knew coming into the weekend that the softball series with 19th-ranked Dyersburg State was going to be a crucial one if the Lady Senators wanted to stay in the hunt for the TCCAA regular season championship.
The first two games on Friday showed the Lady Senators were ready for the challenge.
Game one featured an outstanding pitching performance by Ashley Milligan and in game two, Walters State broke out the bats in pummeling the Lady Eagles 11-3 in five innings.
The Lady Senators improve to 33-9 and 21-5 in conference play while Dyersburg State falls to 38-8, 25-5.
Kaitlyn Harper put on an offensive clinic against the Lady Eagles as the Morristown-native went 6-for-7 with three RBIs, a double and two stolen bases. Ava Brooks also had a big day for the home team as she was 3-for-5 with three runs batted in and two doubles.
Game One: WSCC 4, Dyersburg State 1
In game one, Milligan fanned 14 Dyersburg batters in a 4-1 win. She yielded five hits and walked only one batter. "She has been really good," Walters State head coach Larry Sauceman said. "She has struck out a lot of people here lately. Ashley has been really good lately and she is really only about 75 percent healthy."
All four runs for Walters State came in the third inning. Jessica Odom led off the third with a double down the third base line. After Brianna Beech's walk, Sarah King drew the base on balls to load the bases. Olivia Harris brought a run in with a single to left field. Ava Brooks followed with a sacrifice fly to center to pick up the RBI. Kaitlyn Harper had the biggest hit of the game as she connected on a two-run single to left center.
The Lady Eagles' run came in the fifth when Molly Gordon was hit by a pitch, went to second on a single by Hailey Sipes and scored on Brinley Cousars' sac fly to center.
Game Two: WSCC 11, Dyersburg State 3
Game two saw the visitors hit two solo homers in the first inning to take the early lead but the Lady Senators exploded for six runs in the third frame and never looked back as they cruised to an easy 11-3 victory in five innings. Harper was a perfect 4-for-4 in the second game and produced the final run in the fifth that ended the game on the mercy rule.
Madison Berner and Abby West both went yard in consecutive at-bats in the first inning to put the Lady Eagles up 2-0. Walters State tied the game at 2-2 when Harper reached on a bunt- one of multiple perfect bunts the Lady Senators executed on the day- and Brooks reached on a fielders choice. Back-to-back errors allowed both runners to score to tie things up. The big inning was the third for Walters State as Kasey Bennett and Odom each had two RBI hits and Beech and Brooks also drove in runs with Brooks' RBI coming on a double. The lead stretched out by two more runs in the fourth inning when Maggie Johnson bunted her way aboard and then Harper doubled to left. Brooks brought a run home on the sacrifice fly to center and the second one came around on Bennett's single to left.
Arie Milam led off the top of the fifth with a walk and scored on Brinley Cousar's single to left. Harris reached on an error and then stole second. Harper ended the game with a single to right that made the final tally 11-3. "We faced some pretty good pitching today," Sauceman said. "They go up 2-0 and I didn't like to see that but I think if we can ever get to clicking, we can be good. We are spurty a little bit right now but if we get going, we could be alright."
UP NEXT
Walters State and Dyersburg State play another doubleheader on Saturday with the first pitch coming at noon.
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics