By: by Scott Lipsky
Box Scores: Game One Game Two
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Kennesaw State Owls softball team fell for the first two times in Atlantic Sun Conference play on Saturday afternoon, dropping a doubleheader to the Jacksonville Dolphins, 13-3 and 5-2 at the JU softball complex.
With the losses on Saturday, the Owls (16-12, 2-2 A-Sun) split the first four games of their conference season, as they swept North Florida in a pair of games on Friday.
“It was good to take care of business on Friday and start conference play off the right way, but it was disappointing that we didn’t come out and play today,” Owls head coach Scott Whitlock said. “We have a lot of work to do in order to fulfill our goal of being at the top of the conference.”
Jacksonville (22-12, 4-0 A-Sun) quickly jumped out in front in the first game, scoring four runs in the first inning and then four more in the second, the Black and Gold allowing eight hits and committing three of their four errors in the game during those two innings. Five out of the first six Jacksonville batters in the game would reach base to start their first rally. They would then score their four runs in the second frame all with one out, first on a sacrifice fly and then on three hits and a fielding error over the course of the next four batters to begin to put the game out of reach.
Down 8-0, the Owls put themselves on the board in the top of the third inning by way of a sacrifice fly ball by Jessica Cross to medium-depth left center field that scored a hustling Jensen Hackett from third. They would add one more when Sharon Swanson hit a bullet over the left fielder’s head that bounced to the wall, easily scoring Sara Sikes to make it 8-2.
Jacksonville would put the first game away immediately after the Owls short rally, however, scoring five runs in the bottom of the third inning on the strength of three hits and an error, split between the pitching duties of Amanda Burns, who relieved Cross in the pitcher’s circle with two outs in the second inning.
Kennesaw State would score one more run in the top of the fifth inning on another sacrifice fly, this time from freshman Bianca Durant, with Sikes scoring for a second time in the game. With Jacksonville leading 13-3 after the Owls fifth turn at-bat, the game ended due to the eight-run margin rule that takes effect after five innings in college softball.
The Owls faced junior Sarah Sigrest in the opener, the reigning A-Sun Pitcher of the Week. Sigrest would toss four innings and allow two runs on five hits, before Jackie Samuels pitched the fifth.
The Owls trailed just 1-0 heading into the third inning of the second contest behind the pitching of Amanda Henderson, but a pair of doubles by the Dolphins added one more to their tally when Amanda Schmidt hit one into the gap to score Miranda Fleming. Kayla Ouellet would follow with a single that would carom off of Ashlee Burkett’s glove at third and skip into shallow left field, when Schmidt, who was running home all the way, was gunned down by Swanson, who made a superb throw home to Morgan Chapman for the second out. That would save a run, as Karson Tuck hit a no-doubter that cleared the left field fence to make it 4-0 Dolphins.
Kennesaw State put themselves on the board in the top of the fourth, when Burkett reached on an infield single and then scored all the way from first on a hard-hit double by Swanson, Burkett just sliding into home before the ball got there. The hit extended Swanson’s streak to five straight games of hitting safely, and was her fifth hit in the Owls four games this weekend.
The Black and Gold made one last attempt at a comeback in the top of the seventh. With two outs and Sikes on first, Durant, who was 2-for-4 on the day, hit a single up the middle and was followed to the plate by Burkett, who lifted a ball just past third base down the left field line for her second hit of the game, that would score Sikes to make it 5-2 and bring Cross to the plate as the tying run. Cross would hit it hard, but the ball was caught in center field to extinguish the Owls rally and end the ballgame.
Henderson pitched three innings as the starter of the second game, allowing four runs on six hits, striking out six. Meixel would go the rest of the way, allowing just one run, which came on an illegal pitch, on three hits, over her three innings of work.
Sikes was 2-for-3 in the first game and 1-for-4 in the second half of the twin bill, extending her streak of games in which she has reached base by way of either a hit, walk or error to 17.
Sarah Simon and Blake Eppley both had four hits over the two games for the Dolphins, who also swept last season's doubleheader against the Owls.
The Owls continue their schedule with a non-conference doubleheader at Samford on Tuesday.
