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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State softball team dropped a heartbreaker in its opening game of the 2013 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship as the Owls fell to Lipscomb, 5-4, on a walk-off home run from Mickey Bell in the bottom of the eighth inning.
After a 34-minute weather delay due to lightening, the Owls (34-19) took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as junior
Bianca Durant (Douglasville, Ga./Chapel Hill HS) smacked a single to center field and advancing sophomore
Kaylee Williams (Kennesaw, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain HS) to third. Williams then scored as LU centerfielder Bree Thurman committed an error fielding the ball.
The KSU lead would be short lived as the Bison (33-22) plated four runs in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by a two-run single up the middle from Brittany Elmore.
A three-run inning for the Owls in the top of fourth evened up the contest at 4-4 as Williams blasted her fourth home run of the season to left field to open the inning. Junior
Carly Van Auken (Largo, Fla./State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota) then added a two-run double to centerfield later in the inning.
Despite having runners in scoring position in the final five innings of the game, the Owls could not take advantage. Bell, the leadoff batter for LU in the bottom of the eighth inning, then sealed the win for the Bison in dramatic fashion with a walk-off home run to right centerfield.
KSU outhit the Bison, 12 to eight, while LU committed a pair of errors in the contest. Williams led the Owl attack with a 2-for-3 performance plus two runs and an RBI, with Van Auken contributing two hits and two RBI. Durant and sophomore
Natalie Rhodes (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) added a pair of hits for KSU.
Senior
Abbey Mixon (Canton, Ga./Cherokee HS) took the loss for the Owls after replacing junior starter
Amanda Henderson (Covington, Ga./Eastside HS) in the second inning. Mixon (14-10) allowed only one earned run and four hits, while striking out five in 5.1 innings of work.
Tanner Sanders (18-9) earned the win for Lipscomb, who got two hits and an RBI from Paige Neely.
Kennesaw State now moves into the bottom half of the bracket and will play third-seeded Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday, May 9 at 4 p.m. (ET) at Draper Diamond. The Eagles fell to sixth-seeded Stetson, 14-6, in game one of the Championship.
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.
