By: by Scott Lipsky
Box Scores: Game One Game Two
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State Owls used a combination of prolific offense and continued solid pitching to sweep a road doubleheader against the Belmont Bruins on Friday afternoon, 9-0 and 6-0. The sweep clinched a spot for the Owls in the 2011 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
Jessica Cross and Abbey Meixel each tossed complete game shutouts for the Owls (28-22, 10-8 Atlantic Sun Conference), who were shutout in consecutive games at Lipscomb on Thursday evening.
“Jessica and Abbey pitched great today, they continued our strong performance in the pitching circle throughout this trip, all of which were good enough to win,” Owls head coach Scott Whitlock said, referring to the tough-luck losses that Cross and Amanda Henderson were tagged with after the Owls, 2-0 and 1-0, defeats on Thursday.
Cross was dominant in all aspects of the first game, retiring the first 15 batters she saw on her way to facing the minimum 18 in the six inning game, and going 3-for-3 with two home runs, driving in four runs. She struck out four batters, and allowed just one base runner in the ball game, a lead-off bloop single over second base in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Black and Gold led from the get-go, scoring three runs in the first, two of the runs coming via Cross, who launched her 12th home run of the season to center field to give the Owls a 2-0 lead. Sharon Swanson would also come across in the first inning, doubling to the wall in right center before coming around on an illegal pitch two batters later.
Cross would continue to provide the offense for the Black and Gold, following a lead-off single by Ashlee Burkett with her second home run of the day, a high-arching shot that comfortably cleared the left center field fence to make it a 5-0 game. The round-tripper gave the Tunnel Hill, Ga., native her third multi-home run game of the season and tied her with teammate Sharon Swanson for the A-Sun lead with 13 home runs on the season.
“I was just relaxed today, both at the plate and in the pitcher’s circle,” said Cross, who came three outs away from her second no-hitter in three starts, having pulled off the feat last Saturday against East Tennessee State. “I’ve been just focusing on each batter that I’m facing, and when I was at the plate, it was all about making good swings and picking the right pitches.”
Cat Tarvin drove in the sixth run of the game for the Owls, hit a shot that hugged the right field line and drove in Brittany Moore to make it 6-0.
Swanson would take the conference home run lead back for herself in the seventh inning, hitting a high fly ball that just cleared the fence down the left field line, to make it 9-0, Swanson’s 14th home run of the season.
Meixel kept Belmont (10-37. 3-15 A-Sun) in check offensively, shutting out the Bruins on their senior day in the second game over seven innings of work. She allowed just three hits while striking out seven.
The Owls chipped away at the plate while Meixel carved up the home team, and it started with Ashlee Burkett, who blasted a home run down the left field line in the top of the third inning to make it a 2-0 game and put the guests up for good. They would score one more in the fourth inning, with Cross once again coming up big, this time with a single up the middle to score Jensen Hackett with two outs. They would put the game away with a three-run fifth inning, Brittany Moore scoring on a Jensen Hackett single, Sara Sikes hitting her third triple of the season and driving in Hackett, and Burkett hitting a double down the left field line to drive in Sikes.
Kennesaw State’s sweep, coupled with Stetson getting swept at Florida Gulf Coast on Friday evening, was what punched the Owls second straight ticket to the A-Sun Tournament, which begins May 11 at USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid to an NCAA Regional.
“We’re glad that we made it into the tournament again, it’s what we shoot for, to have a chance to win a championship,” Whitlock said. “We have two more conference games this season, and our goal is to win them and put ourselves in position to have the highest seed that we can in the tournament and be in the best position to win it.”
The Owls had seven players who had a total of three hits or more during the doubleheader. Cross went 3-for-3 in the first game, and Sikes went 3-for-4 in the second game.
Whitlock’s squad visits one of the top teams in the nation, the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs, on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. They wrap up conference play, and their regular season, next Saturday at Mercer.
