In its final home game of the season, Wichita State’s softball team forced extra innings after trailing by two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
The Shockers ultimately pushed the game to a ninth inning before falling to in-state rival, Kansas, on Wednesday evening, 5-3.
Senior Camryn Compton said after the game that ending her career at Wilkins Stadium brought a lot of emotions.
“It’s been a fun journey,” she said. “We showed our fight and that’s what Wichita is all about. And so it was fun to put up a fight, get some great softball in and have one last game with my team.”
Graduate student Lauren Lucas said she wished she could have given her home turf “a better goodbye,” but the result of the game “is what it is.”
“We played our hearts out tonight, and you know, sometimes the game just doesn’t go the way you want,” Lucas said.
WSU head coach Kristi Bredbenner said the Shockers (26-23-1) were doing a great job of being selective with their swings during the seventh inning to force the game into extras.
“(We) really made her (KU’s pitcher) pound the zone for strikes and were able to get some walks and some hits in a key, opportune time,” Bredbenner said. “The bottom line is, we fought (and) we battled back.”
The Shockers came into the seventh inning trailing by two runs with the bottom of the order headed to the plate.
After freshman Gabby Scott lined out to start the seventh inning, freshman Brookelyn Livanec singled to second base. Later, senior Krystin Nelson reached first on an error. Then, three WSU batters coerced consecutive walks and eventually tied the game.
Compton then stepped up with the bases loaded and a chance to win the game in regulation. With a 2-2 count, she took a hack at a ball that hit the end of the barrel of her bat and rolled to the second baseman, who sent the ball to second base for the out that sent the game to extras.
Lucas said even with the missed opportunity to win it, the bottom of WSU’s lineup did a tremendous job of rolling over to the top of the lineup to tie the game.
“Just a really good team effort there at the bottom of seven,” she said.
The teams went runless in the eighth, and in the ninth, the Jayhawks (22-24) scored the game’s final two runs on two separate RBI-doubles.
“They got three hits that inning; they’re going to score a couple runs,” Bredbenner said. “… Can’t do much about it. I mean, it’s a game of inches. And you know, whoever was really going to put something in play and make something happen (was going to win) — they (KU) were the winners today.”
Lucas left the stadium she’s called home for the last five seasons with a couple of parting words:
“Thank you, Wilkins. It’s been real,” she said.
What happened before?
The teams traded 1-2-3 innings to start the game, with plays made by both defenses.
In the top of the second inning, KU’s starting pitcher and cleanup hitter, senior Olivia Bruno, smacked a line drive over the right field wall on the fourth pitch of the inning, making the score 1-0. Freshman Ava Sliger got the start in the circle for the Shockers and ended the second inning by forcing a 6-4-3 double play.
Sliger forced the Jayhawks to go 1-2-3 again in the third inning, but WSU couldn’t provide run support until the fourth. In the fourth, Compton hit her 11th homer of the season to tie the game at one.
The Shockers have hit 21 home runs in their last eight games. Before the season started, Bredbenner said the team probably wouldn’t have as much power as teams she’s coached in the past.
This hasn’t turned out to be true. The team has hit 70 home runs through the 50 games played this season and totaled 75 all of last season.
“I just think our kids are getting more confident, more comfortable,” Bredbenner said. “Getting some good pitches to swing at. They’re settling in the box and I think they’re having some more great at bats.”
The teams traded defensive stops again in the fifth before the Jayhawks regained the lead in the sixth.
Freshman Ryley Nihart stepped into the circle for Sliger in the sixth and walked three of the first five batters she faced to load the bases. A ball was then hit at junior Sami Hood, who couldn’t maintain clean possession of it, which led to the two runs to give the Jayhawks the lead.
Bredbenner said in tight games like this one, limiting the mistakes can make a huge difference in the outcome.
“If you erase those from the board, it’s a totally different ball game,” Bredbenner said.
What’s next?
Wichita State will wrap up its regular season over the weekend with a three-game series away from home at Memphis. The first pitch for game one is scheduled for Friday, May 2, at 6 p.m.
