By: KSU Sports Information
Box Scores: Game 1 Game 2
Saturday: Live Stats Listen Watch (ASun.tv)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State Owls used the long ball early and often on Friday evening, withstanding a four-hour rain delay and coming from behind in the opener to eventually sweep the East Tennessee State Bucs, 4-3 and 9-0 in an Atlantic Sun Conference doubleheader. Owls head coach Scott Whitlock earned his 1100th career victory in the sweep.
Playing their first of back-to-back twin bills against A-Sun competition, the Owls (18-16, 3-1 A-Sun) hit a pair of two-run home runs in each game to pace them against the Bucs (10-18, 0-2 A-Sun), while getting clutch pitching from Abbey Mixon in both contests.
“I thought our team played tremendously hard tonight. They kept their composure in several spots during the game in which it would be really easy to get rattled, but they continued to fight and they deserve all the credit for these wins tonight,” Scott Whitlock said. “They did a great job being ready to play after a four-hour rain delay, which is never an easy thing to do, and I’m very proud of the way they responded to that type of situation.”
The Owls got off to a quick start that would almost immediately turn into a slow evening for everyone involved. Sharon Swanson would bash her 11
th home run of the season with two outs and Jessica Cross on second base in the top of the first to start things off. Cross would then allow a run to the Bucs in the bottom of the first, but that would be the last time the team would take the field for almost four hours. As soon as the first inning ended, a heavy thunderstorm would sweep through the area, causing a three-hour and 51 minute rain delay.
When play eventually resumed some time after 8:00 p.m. local time, ETSU would take their only lead of the night, scoring two runs on a walk, a triple and a sacrifice fly in the third inning to put them in front, 3-2.
That lead would last until the fifth inning when the Owls, who stranded 11 runners in the opener, took the lead for good, when Kaylee Williams stepped to the plate with two outs and Lindsay Vollmer on first and lofted her second home run of the season over the left centerfield fence, putting the Black and Gold out in front, 3-2. Williams would go 2-for-4 in the opener and then 3-for-3 in the second game, anchoring a 7-8-9 tandem of Williams, Brittany Moore and Carly Van Auken that went 10-for-20 across both games Friday evening.
ETSU would threaten one last time in the first game, loading the bases with two outs in the fifth inning when Cross was replaced in the pitcher’s circle by Mixon, who got Alex Everett to ground back to the pitcher’s circle to end the inning. Mixon would dispatch the next six Bucs in order, wrapping up her second of the season and moving Cross to 6-8 in 2012.
Mixon’s relief performance would prove to be the beginning of what would be a dominating night for the junior, as she struck out a season-high 10 batters and allowed just four hits without issuing a walk in the second game of the evening, collecting her second shutout and third complete game of the season while moving to 5-2 on the season.
While Mixon was dealing in the pitcher’s circle, the Owls were raking in the batter’s box, scoring in four straight innings to give themselves a margin that would end the game in five innings due to the eight-run rule. A Williams single in the second inning would drive home Vollmer, who had doubled in front of her, to give the Owls a, 1-0, lead, but they were far from finished offensively. Back-to-back doubles in the third by Cross and Swanson would plate another run, and then Swanson scored when Bianca Durant crushed her third home run of the season down the right field line, just staying inside the fair territory, to put the Black and Gold up, 4-0.
The hit parade would continue in the fourth, when Cross followed up her double in the last frame with her fourth home run of the season, making it 6-0. Three more runs would come around in the fifth when, with two runners on and two outs, Van Auken would lace a 1-1 pitch to right centerfield that would score Williams and Mandi Burns, and then would score on the same play when a n ETSU throw sailed into the Bucs dugout and allowed her to advance home.
With the two wins on the night, Whitlock landed on exactly 1100 wins for his career at Kennesaw State since he took over the Owls softball program in 1987. His 947 fastpitch wins from 1991 to the present rank him 26th all-time among four-year college coaches, are complemented by his 153 wins in four season of slow pitch ball before the program was converted over.
“1100 wins is a great accomplishment, and I’m thrilled that I was able to get there on a night in which we moved to 3-1 in the A-Sun, which is the most important thing to me. I’m in this position because of the hundreds of great players who have come through the program, and the dozens of coaches who have worked with me here, and the support we’ve received from the university over the years to allow us to achieve our goals. 1100 wins is a by-product of all of those things. It's always been important to me to look at the slow pitch wins the same way I do the fastpitch victories, because those student-athletes won the games in the format that was available to them at that time.”
The Owls have a fairly quick turnaround, as they face the USC Upstate Spartans at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday in a doubleheader in Spartanburg, S.C. The double dip was originally slated for 1:00 p.m., but was pushed back due to Friday night’s rain delay, as well as the fact that Upstate had a long delay during their doubleheader split with Mercer on Friday evening. KSU All Access (
www.KSUOwls.com/Showcase) will have live audio of both games, with ASun.tv providing live subscription video.
