By: KSU Sports Information
Box Scores: UNCG WKU
WOODSTOCK, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls dropped a pair of games on Sunday on the final day of the Buzz Classic, hosted by Georgia Tech at Twin Creeks Softball Complex. They fell to the UNC Greensboro Spartans, 6-5, before bowing to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, 9-3.
Coming off of a Saturday victory over Alabama State in which the Owls (10-8) scored five runs in the sixth inning to power them to victory, the Black and Gold would score in bunches again on Sunday, but would not be able to produce the same result.
In their first game against UNC Greensboro (5-10), the Owls, playing as the road team, trailed 2-0 heading into the top of the second inning but pulled ahead thanks to a four-run second inning that included three hits to go along with two Spartan errors. The big strike in the frame came courtesy of
Carly Van Auken. With two outs and the bases and with a run already in by way of an RBI groundout by
Jamie Saunders, Van Auken would lace a pitch into left centerfield, scoring
Jensen Hackett and
Lindsay Vollmer and putting the Owls up, 3-2. Greensboro would commit an error on a ball hit by
Jessica Cross on the next play, plating
Natalie Rhodes to put her squad up by a pair.
After the Spartans tied it up in the bottom of the second, Scott Whitlock’s club would take the lead one last time in the contest, thanks to an RBI single by Kaylee Williams.
It would be a struggle at the plate from that point forward for the Owls, as they would garner just one more hit while stranding four runners. UNC Greensboro would pull ahead for good in the bottom half of the third, with freshman starter
Monica Vickery and Cross combining to allow the go-ahead runs during the frame. Cross would settle down for the rest of the contest after coming into the circle for Vickery with one out in the third, at one point retiring 10 straight batters.
Still down, 6-5, heading into the top of the seventh, the Owls gave it one last shot to come out on top, taking advantage of a pair of walks and a fielding error to load up the bases with two outs. It was not to be, however, as they would leave the bases full and fall in the opener.
The Owls stayed in their second game against the Hilltoppers (13-5) for most of the contest, trailing just 1-0 heading into the fifth inning, with
Amanda Henderson having recorded eight of her 10 strikeouts on the afternoon to that point. Western Kentucky would unload on the sophomore in that frame, however, connecting on four straight singles to start the inning and eventually hitting a grand slam as part of a six-run inning to put the game nearly out of reach. They would score two more runs off of
Abbey Mixon in the sixth inning to make it a 9-0 ballgame.
Whitlock’s club, who had only scratched out one hit in the contest heading into the sixth, would stave off a run-rule result by plating three runs in that inning, thanks to a Sharon Swanson home run that drove in all three runs, her Atlantic Sun Conference-leading eighth round-tripper of the season.
Despite the defeat to Western Kentucky, Mixon and Henderson combined for 14 strikeouts, tied for the squad’s second-highest tally in a game this season.
Cross went 2-for-3 against the Hilltoppers, the only Owl to have multiple hits in the contest. Bianca Durant (3-for-4) and Van Auken (2-for-3) pulled off the feat in the opener, while Van Auken was the one Owl to record hits in both games.
The Owls now hit the road for the Sunshine State for the next week, beginning with their first A-Sun match-up of the season when they take on the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in a doubleheader on Wednesday. They then travel to Clearwater for five games in the USF Under Armour Classic, where they will square off against Long Island, Fordham, Miami (Ohio), Syracuse and Toledo beginning on Friday.
Weekend Notes:
-The Owls finish up the early part of their schedule with a 6-5 record at Twin Creeks Softball Complex. They are now 20-12 at the multi-field facility just north of Kennesaw since 2009.
-The start by
Monica Vickery was the first of her collegiate career. She had made four relief appearances thus far in 2012.
-
Amanda Henderson's 10-strikeout performance on Sunday was her third of the season.
-At the conclusion of the weekend,
Carly Van Auken and
Bianca Durant are the only two players to have started every game this season at the same position. They have been in the lineup at shortstop and right field, respectively, in all 18 games so far in 2012.
