GAME ONE BOX SCORE (XML) | BOX SCORE (PDF)
GAME TWO BOX SCORE (XML) | BOX SCORE (PDF)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Kennesaw State softball team split its doubleheader with North Florida on Saturday, April 6 at the UNF Softball Complex, falling 2-1 in game one, before rebounding with a 4-3 win in game two.
Kennesaw State improves to 24-12 and 8-6 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, while North Florida moves to 28-11 and 7-4 in league play.
The Owls took an early one-run lead in the top of the first inning of game one as juniors
Sara Sikes (Douglasville, Ga./Georgia) and
Bianca Durant (Douglasville, Ga./Chapel Hill HS) posted hits to put runners on first and third. Sikes then came home on a wild pitch from Osprey pitcher Kaylie Wallace.
UNF responded with a pair of runs in the third to take a 2-1 lead. After a two-out error by Sikes in centerfield continued the inning, Jackie Reese hit a two-RBI double to deep centerfield to give the Ospreys the lead.
The two runs in the third frame would be all the Ospreys needed, as Wallace and the UNF defense kept the Owls off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
KSU outhit North Florida, five to four, but committed one costly error in the contest. Sikes registered two hits and a run for the Owls.
Junior pitcher
Amanda Henderson (Covington, Ga./Eastside HS) took the game one loss for the Owls despite not allowing any earned runs and recording nine strikeouts in the outing.
Wallace improved to 14-4 on the season and had five strikeouts in the win.
In game two, the Owls plated a run in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead as senior
Sharon Swanson (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) opened the scoring with a RBI single to right center in the first inning.
Senior
Jensen Hackett (Tunnell Hill, Ga./Ringgold HS) then scored on an throwing error from UNF starting pitcher Kayla Goff in the second frame and followed it up with an RBI single to centerfield to plate sophomore
Kaylee Williams (Kennesaw, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain HS) in the third.
North Florida answered with three runs in the bottom of the third as the Ospreys used four hits and an Owl error to even up the game at 3-3.
With the game tied in the top of the seventh, Williams started off the inning with a single to right field and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from freshman
Kara Chambers (Kennesaw, Ga./Allatoona HS) and a single from junior
Carly Van Auken (Largo, Fla./State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota). Hackett then delivered her fourth hit of the game and the biggest hit of her season when the senior drove in the winning run on a single to third base, scoring Williams for the go-ahead run.
Henderson (14-2), who had entered the game in the top of the sixth inning after five solid innings from senior starter
Abbey Mixon (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS), shut down the UNF attack in the final two innings. J registered a three-up, three-down seventh inning, including two strikeouts in the frame, to earn the win for the Owls.
The Owls again outhit the Ospreys, 12 to seven, while KSU committed one error and UNF committed two errors in the contest.
Offensively, Hackett was the star of the game with a 4-for-4 performance plus a run and an RBI. Swanson and Williams each added a pair of hits in the game.
UNF pitcher Cortney Radke (4-2) took the game two loss for the Ospreys, who got two hits from Abby Tewey.
Kennesaw State wraps up its three-game series with North Florida on Sunday, April 7 with a single game at 1 p.m. (ET).
Keep up with Owls softball this year by following KSU on Twitter at @
KSUOwlsSoftball and @
KSUOwlNation or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on
Facebook.
Kennesaw State is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
