NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The ULM softball team came out on top
again in its second extra-inning contest against Stephen F. Austin this season,
a 3-1 eight-frame triumph Thursday at the SFA Softball Field. The victory gives
the Warhawks a sweep of the Ladyjacks and marks its fourth-straight
come-from-behind win.
The Warhawks also maintain a near-perfect record in extra
innings this season by improving to 6-1. Overall, ULM is now 20-19, and the win
inched head coach Rosemary Holloway-Hill within two victories of her 700th at the helm of ULM's program.
Alexis Cacioppo had a big 2-for-4 performance that included one
run, two RBIs and her team-leading fifth home run of the season. Janel Salanoa
and Mackenzie Miller each went 2-for-3, with Salanoa and Haley McCall each
scoring a run.
Haylie Wilson improved to 11-3 on the year after her
fourth-straight complete game effort as the starting pitcher, as she allowed
just one earned run on five hits and struck out three.
In the eighth inning McCall plated the go-ahead run after
she nailed a single into left field to score Salanoa from second, who got on
with a walk. McCall advanced to third on the throw home and provided the
insurance run when Cacioppo roped another single into left field.
The Ladyjacks (13-28) were held to just three hits until the
sixth inning when Cadie Weaver nailed a single and advanced a base on a ground
out. Kaitlyn Mixon came up with a shot just out of Kayla Boening's reach into
left field to score the first run of the game.
ULM answered immediately in the bottom of the next inning,
when Cacioppo led off with a solo bomb deep over the left field wall. Stephen
F. Austin was unable to answer, which forced extra innings.
Weaver scored Stephen F. Austin's lone run of the contest in
a 1-for-3 effort, while Mixon and Bethany Brown had the only multi-hit
performances in 2-for-3 and 2-for-4 outings. Carlie Thomas (8-11) also went all
eight innings and gave up nine hits and three earned runs with four strikeouts.
The Warhawks host Western Kentucky at home this weekend in
Sun Belt Conference action, beginning with a doubleheader Saturday at 2 p.m.
followed by the finale Sunday at 12 p.m.
