By: by Scott Lipsky
Game One Box Score I Game Two Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. - The Kennesaw State Owls softball team quickly moved past their three-game slide from over the weekend, sweeping a doubleheader from Troy on Tuesday afternoon at Bailey Park on the campus of KSU. They took the first game, 5-1, before pouring it on offensively in game two, winning 17-9 in five innings.
Redshirt sophomore Jessica Cross was the story of the day on Tuesday for the Owls (6-3), as she was a big reason for her team’s success in every aspect of the game. Over the two games, she combined to go 5-for-7 with seven RBIs, including her first three home runs of the season. Her bat was only part of the story, however, as she also pitched a complete game in the opener, allowing just one run on five hits to move to 3-1 on the mound this season.
“Jessica got the jolt of confidence that she needed today at the plate, and we’re really excited about that,” said head coach Scott Whitlock. “She gave us exactly what we needed, as well, with her pitching performance in the first game.”
Kennesaw State scored five unanswered runs against reigning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week, junior Ashlyn Williams for Troy (6-3), after falling behind 1-0 in the first inning. Cross would begin her torrid day at the plate in the bottom of the second, following a Jenna Closner walk by belting her first home run of the season to right –center field, in what would turn out to be the game-winning hit. She would add her second home run when she led things off the in the sixth inning with a shot to center field to give the Owls a 5-1 cushion.
Freshman infielder Hannah Graham also had herself a solid first game offensively, notching two hits, including a fourth-inning double that scored Cross, who had reached on a single, to make it 3-1. Junior Klair Wells provided the rest of the offense in the first game, with a home run to left centerfield in the fifth inning to make it 4-1.
Whitlock’s club came out swinging in the second game, taking a quick 3-0 lead when Cross followed up doubles by Kelsey Kulk and Jenna Closner with a two-run home run, her third round-tripper of the day.
They then provided Owls starter Amanda Burns with all of the run support most anyone would need in the second inning, scoring ten runs, albeit with a lot of help from the Troy defense, who committed four errors during the frame. 12 consecutive batters would reach base by the Owls with one out in the inning, either by hit or error, as they chased Troy starting pitcher Sally Ward after just one and a third innings on the mound.
The highlight of the stretch came when Jensen Hackett hit her first career home run as an Owl, a grand slam to left center field that made it 13-0 in favor of KSU and capped-off the scoring in that inning.
The cushion allowed KSU to survive a six-run inning by Troy in the top of the third, and they tacked on a few more insurance runs in the fourth inning after having the bases empty with two outs when another defensive miscue by the Trojans, who finished the game with six errors, combined with an RBI double by Wells and a run-scoring single by Kulk made it 16-6.
April Harper and Abbey Meixel pitched one inning apiece, to preserve the win for Burns (1-0).
Overall, the Owls had three players register multi-hit games in the opener, and had a whopping five accomplish the feat in game two. Hackett led the way in the closing game, going 3-for-4, while Cross’ 3-for-3 effort was tops for the Owls in game one.
“Things were a little messy in the second game, and there a lot of things we’d like to improve, but when we wake up tomorrow, we have to realize that we won two games against a quality ball club,” said Whitlock, who will take his team down to Atlanta on Wednesday night to face Georgia Tech. “We shook up the batting order a little bit, and it seemed to work. Tomorrow night we’ll be facing one of the top teams in the country, so we’re going to go and compete and play the best we can.”
First pitch tomorrow night between the Owls and Yellow Jackets is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
