Softball finishes 4-0 in South Alabama Invitational

The Shockers won all four of their games in the South Alabama Invitational this weekend, with victories over Dartmouth, South Alabama and two against Bowling Green. 

Wichita State started off the showcase with Dartmouth, with the Big Green striking off of a single in the first inning by Morgan Martinelli to give Dartmouth a 1-0 lead at the end of the first inning. 

Cacy Williams, who was hitting .107 percent heading into Friday’s game, tied the game up in the top of the fifth inning with a home run. Williams’s home run started off a six-run, fifth-inning scoring drive, with two of those runs coming from hits by Brittany Fortner and Paige Luellen. 

Jenni Brooks pitched the last five innings for the Shockers, striking out three batters and not allowing a run. She earned the victory. Wichita State won 6-1. Brooks pushed her record to 4-1 on the season after her five shutout innings over the Big Green. 

WSU faced a similar start the next day against Bowling Green. Marissa Shook’s home run put the Talons up on the board first with a 1-0 lead at the end of the second inning. 

Luellen’s two-run double in the top of the third inning gave the Shockers the 2-1 lead. Kelli Spring followed in the fourth inning, hitting an RBI single, followed by a Mackenzie Wright two-run single and a Fortner one-run single that gave Wichita State a 6-1 lead. 

After a two-run fourth inning by Bowling Green, a throwing error by the Shockers scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning that cut the WSU lead 6-4. 

A three-run, sixth-inning solidified the victory for the Shockers, 9-4. Ashlynne Neil earned her first victory for Wichita State, pitching three shutout innings, allowing two hits. 

WSU turned up the heat four hours later against South Alabama. A single by Liz Broyles scored the first run of the game in the first inning, giving the Shockers a 1-0 lead. The Shockers didn’t score until the fifth inning, when Cassidy Kelsheimer hit her first solo home run of the season. Her score was followed by a Williams triple in the sixth inning. 

That would be enough for the Shockers, as Katie Malone pitched seven shutout innings with two strikeouts, giving Wichita State the 3-0 victory. 

Bowling Green came into Sunday’s matchup looking for a revenge victory that spoiled the Shockers’ flight back home to Wichita. But Wichita State made sure early they were going to come home on a high note, going on an 11-0 scoring run that forced the run rule to be applied into the fifth inning.

Malone pitched four shutout innings before giving up three runs in the fifth inning. Malone struck  out three batters, giving the Shockers their fourth straight victory with an 11-3 win over Bowling Green. 

The Shockers will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday for a three-game series against the University of Nebraska.