Freshman Kristin Hernandez had eight points and four rebounds in the Cowgirls’ 67-52 loss to LSU on Saturday.
The Cowgirl Softball team won both matchups against the No. 18 Baylor Lady Bears this weekend, evening its record.
The games the Cowgirls played were each won in an opposite fashion. In Saturday’s game, the Cowgirls put on an offensive clinic, beating the Lady Bears 11-5. Sunday’s game was a much more closely contended, defensive struggle.
On Sunday, going into the top of the seventh inning, the Cowgirls (17-17) had a 3-0 lead. Freshman pitcher Sarah Odom was in the circle after coming in for relief of sophomore starting pitcher Anna Whiddon.
The Lady Bears (18-12) were able to string together some hits and drove in one run, but Odom picked up her first save of the season as the Cowgirls defeated Baylor for the second time this weekend, 3-1.
“They really played hard every pitch,” Wieligman said. “I think our defense played smart, they played aggressive, and if they made a mistake, they didn’t get down.”
In Sunday’s game, the Lady Bears registered two more hits than the Cowgirls, but were unable to drive in runs.
“Defensively, I think we did a great job executing and getting the plays made when we needed to get the plays made,” Whiddon said.
Whiddon started both games for the Cowgirls and picked up the wins for both. In two games, Whiddon pitched nine innings, recorded six strike outs and got two earned runs.
The Cowgirls scored their first run in the second inning when junior outfielder Breana Casaus hit an RBI single to drive in senior catcher Meghan Wagner.
In the third and the fifth innings, sophomore outfielder Megan Castle drove in freshman second baseman Alysia Hamilton on two sacrifice flies to give the Cowgirls a 3-0 lead.
Hamilton was the Cowgirl’s primary source of offense throughout both games.
In two games she got four hits in seven at bats, scored five runs and drove in three runs.
“I think we all hit the ball great,” Hamilton said. “I might have hit the ball, but people had to hit me in, so everyone did their job.”
Everyone did do her job in Saturday’s game against Baylor. The Cowgirls registered 13 hits on their way to an 11-5 route of the Lady Bears.
The Cowgirls jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Castle hit a triple, driving in two runs. Junior first baseman Heather Kim followed that up with a single to drive in Castle.
The Cowgirls picked up two more runs in the third inning with RBIs from Hamilton and Castle to give them a 5-0 lead.
The Lady Bears came roaring back with a four-run fourth inning. After a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded drove in one run, Baylor’s Meagan Weldon hit a three-run home run to narrow the deficit to one.
The Cowgirls answered with a single by Hamilton to drive in two more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Baylor added one more run, but it would not be enough as the Cowgirls would add four more runs, including a two-run home run by senior outfielder Kim Kaye in the sixth.
“We were putting up the runs, we were doing our jobs, and we were executing when we needed to,” Hamilton said.
Coach Wieligman said he was impressed with the overall performance of his team in both games this weekend.
“They played great defense,” Wieligman said. “I felt like they stayed in the game, the whole game. They never doubted we could win both games.”
The Cowgirls entered the weekend having lost seven of their last nine games, so Wieligman was pleased that his team was able to put together two wins.
“Any time you can beat a ranked opponent is good, but to come in and have them come to our place and us get two wins, that’s even better,” Wieligman said.
The Cowgirls have a tough schedule coming up, including a home game against OU on Wednesday, so they will be looking to carry momentum from these victories into the upcoming games.
“I think these were great wins for us,” Whiddon said. “It’s going to bring us a lot of momentum going into Wednesday, OU, and this next weekend against Texas.”
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