The Wichita State softball team headed to Denton, Texas, over the weekend to face North Texas in a pivotal series down the stretch of league play.
The Shockers extended their winning streak to 12 games and secured their third straight series sweep, providing some much-needed breathing room against the third place Mean Green.
WSU (32-15, 18-6 American) is now one win away from tying a program record 13-straight wins after the three games against UNT (27-24, 14-10) and kept pace with South Florida as the conference’s top teams.
Friday
The Shockers had an offensive explosion to open the series at Lovelace Stadium, winning 9-2.
Kinzey Woody continued to swing a hot bat, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs. Woody, a freshman from Westphalia, Mo., tied a season high of four hits.
Kammie Smith, another freshman, drove in a run in the fourth inning, extending her hitting streak to 13 games with a double to left field.
Sophomore Ryley Nihart delivered another strong outing in the circle, pitching all seven innings and giving up two runs on five hits. She recorded her ninth complete game against conference opponents.
The only Mean Green runs came from two solo home runs in the third and sixth innings, respectively.
Saturday
A career day from sophomore Aeryn Shuman helped the Shockers rally late for a 6-4 win and extend their win streak to another game.
Shuman, who hit 2-for-3, homered twice and drove in four runs, good for her first career multi-home run game and a career-high in RBIs.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Mean Green extended its lead to 4-1. But from there, WSU scored five unanswered runs, including a three-run blast from Shuman in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Smith and Woody’s hitting streaks came to an end, however.
Outside of Shuman, only five other Shockers recorded a hit in the game.
Sophomore Ausha Moore hit her league-leading 19th home run of the season. Senior Jodie Epperson drove in another WSU run on a single in the sixth inning. Junior Trinity Allen, freshman Mackenzie Rooney and graduate student Johnna Schroeder rounded out the Shockers’ hits.
Sophomore Ava Sliger only made it through 2 1/3 innings during her start in the circle, as the Mean Green hit her with four runs on seven hits and a walk.
Senior Jade Sanders (5-4) earned the win, pitching 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. She allowed just one hit and a walk while striking out four as WSU’s bats found life.
Sunday
A four-run third inning powered Wichita State to its 12th-straight win and completed the series sweep in Sunday’s finale.
Smith opened the frame with a single before Moore launched a two-run home run. Later, after Woody drew a walk, Allen followed with a two-run homer to make the score 4-1.
Moore’s blast was her 20th home run of the season, becoming the third player in program history to achieve that mark in a single season.
Woody also added an RBI single in the fourth to push the lead to 5-1.
To start the fifth inning, Epperson made it to third base after a UNT error before Shuman drove her in on a double for a 6-2 advantage.
In the sixth inning, after another Smith single, the Mean Green walked three straight Shockers, allowing Smith to cross home plate. A fielding error later helped the Shockers bring in another run to make the score 8-2.
Nihart turned in another strong performance, allowing two runs on two hits with two strikeouts in four innings to improve to 15-9 in the circle.
Sanders entered in relief to begin the fifth inning, tossing three scoreless innings with two strikeouts, four hits and a walk.
Up Next
Wichita State will resume play for a chance to tie program history at 5 p.m. Tuesday against in-state rival Kansas at Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence.
