MONROE, La. – The ULM softball team opened Sun Belt Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Coastal Carolina on Saturday, March 13, by scores of 6-3 and 8-4 and ran their season-long winning streak to five games in the process.
The ULM (8-11, 2-0 Sun Belt) victories ensure that the Warhawks will clinch their first Sun Belt Conference series opener since the 2016 season, when they defeated Appalachian State in two of the three games. Coastal Carolina slipped to 6-9 overall and 0-2 in Sun Belt Conference action.
Among the standout individual performers for the Warhawks in the sweep were
Gianni Hulett, who earned two wins in the circle after tossing nine innings, allowing eight hits, three runs (two earned), and striking out six Chanticleer hitters over the course of the two games.
Korie Kreps moved her hitting streak to six games after coming through with a double in the first game and a home run in the second. Kreps' two hits also allowed her to cross the plate for two runs.
Kelsey Giddens and
Madelyn Fletcher scored three runs for ULM in the two games while
Jayden Mount crossed the plate on twice.
GAME 1: ULM 6, Coastal Carolina 3
Facing a 3-2 deficit heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, ULM scored four runs in the frame to assume a three-run lead.
Andie Edwards connected on a double to left field and two batters later
Madelyn Fletcher reached base after being hit by a pitch.
Kennedy Johnson followed with a single up the middle, allowing Edwards to score the tying run.
Kelsey Giddens reached on a miscue at third, loading the bases with Warhawks. A wild pitch moved the runners up, scoring Fletcher for the go-ahead run.
Madison Blount followed with a double to left centerfield, scoring Giddens and Johnson, as ULM moved in front 6-3.
ULM allowed just one hit over the final two innings as the Warhawks helped Hulett improve to 3-2 on the season. Hulett surrendered just two hits and one run, while striking out four batters, in five innings in the circle.
The Warhawks had seven hits on the afternoon, including three doubles from the combination of Edwards, Blount and Kreps. Kreps moved her hitting streak to five games with a 1-for-4 outing. Edwards (2-4, run) was the lone hitter in the ULM lineup with multiple hits.
GAME 2: ULM 8, Coastal Carolina 4
Building off the momentum from the victory in game one, ULM's offense exploded for four runs in the first inning. Mount kept the inning alive with a two-out walk and quickly stole second. Fletcher followed with a walk of her own and the pair both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Johnson roped a single down the right field line, providing the Warhawks with a 2-0 lead as both Fletcher and Mount scored. Two batters later, Blount singled past the shortstop to load the bases for ULM.
Alysia Anderson reached after being hit by a pitch, pushing the lead to 3-0, before a wild pitch brought Giddens home for the fourth ULM run.
Kreps singlehandedly provided the Warhawks with the fifth run of the game, extending her hitting streak to six games in the process, when she sent a solo blast over the right field wall.
After two runs in the fourth by the Chanticleers cut the ULM lead to 5-2, the Warhawks got one of the runs back in the fifth on an RBI single to right field by
Kelsey Giddens that plated Fletcher from second.
The final two ULM runs crossed the plate in the sixth on the second Warhawk home run of the game, which came off the bat of Mount, who scored
Caley McGuff from second.
ULM tallied six hits in the second game with the only extra-base hits coming in the form of home runs by Kreps and Mount. Mount finished the game 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored while Johnson also tallied two RBIs after going 1-for-2 with a run scored.
Amber Coons logged three innings in the circle, scattering three hits and allowing two runs, before Hulett (4-2) came out of the bullpen to post her second win of the afternoon after limiting the Chanticleers to three hits and two runs while converting two strikeouts in four innings of work.
The Warhawks look to complete the sweep of the Chanticleers on Sunday, March 14 when the two teams return to the diamond for a 12 p.m. game at the ULM Softball Complex.
