MONROE, La. ? The Warhawks softball team started Sun Belt Conference play with a 4-1 win against North Texas in the opening game of a doubleheader before falling in the nightcap 11-1 for a Saturday split at the ULM Softball Complex.
ULM's win over North Texas in Game 1 of the doubleheader helped the Warhawks open the league slate with a win for the first time since the downing Nicholls State in the 2005 Southland Conference opener.
In the opener the Mean Green scratched across a run in the second inning after knocking home a walk with two outs for a 1-0 lead. North Texas would leave the bases loaded in the frame and again in the third before senior Lindsay Rittenhouse (3-5) settled in for the Warhawks.
“I thought Calli Baker really stepped up and set the momentum in the opening game,” ULM head coach Rosemary Holloway-Hill said. “With two outs and two strikes our senior captain really came through for us. Lindsay shut the door and got us the win.”
With two outs in the bottom half of the second freshman Molly McNeill laced a double into the left centerfield gap. One batter later, senior Calli Baker hit a deep single to centerfield, but McNeill was narrowly thrown out at the plate to preserve the Mean Green advantage.
Two innings later Baker would deliver in her second two-out attempt. With the bases loaded, the ULM captain hit a double off the left centerfield wall and gave the Warhawks a 3-1 lead.
ULM (7-12, 1-1 Sun Belt) would add an insurance run in the fifth inning when freshman Brianna Love doubled home junior Erica Darden for the 4-1 lead. The three-run advantage would be all Rittenhouse needed. The Warhawks hurler allowed one earned run off six hits and two walks. Rittenhouse also fanned six batters through the game's seven innings.
In the second game North Texas (8-13, 1-1 Sun Belt) got off to a fast start and never looked back. Kristina Fowler hit a two-out three-RBI homer to left field off ULM starter Kandace Causey (3-5) to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.
The Warhawks cut into the lead after Love tripled to left centerfield to score Darden and make it a 3-1 game. The Mean Green would add an RBI single in the second inning, a two-RBI homer in the third and two more runs in the fourth to extend the advantage to 8-1.
Senior Shanna Swillie entered the game in the fourth inning and held the Mean Green off the scoreboard until the seventh when three unearned runs came across the plate for the final 11-1 score.
“We just didn't have a very good offensive game for Kandace,” Holloway-Hill said. “We had our chances and seemed to always have people on base, but we just couldn't finish. We have to hit the ball like we are capable of. Shanna did well for us in relief, but we had just dug too deep of a hole.”
McNeill and Love finished with a pair of extra base hits apiece in the two games while Darden finished with a team-high three runs scored on the day.
The Warhawks and Mean Green will wrap up the conference opening series on Sunday, March 9 at the ULM Softball Complex. First pitch in the rubber match is projected to begin at 1 p.m.
