Ashlan Ard batting vs SIUE 2022
Ty Hundley / ULM Football Creative
2
ULM ULM 7-1
3
Winner Jacksonville State JSU 6-2
ULM ULM
7-1
2
Final
3
Jacksonville State JSU
6-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
ULM ULM 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 3
Jacksonville State JSU 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 11 1

W: Kat Carter (3-1) L: Hulett, Gianni (2-1)

5
Winner ULM ULM 8-1
2
Jacksonville State JSU 6-3
Winner
ULM ULM
8-1
5
Final
2
Jacksonville State JSU
6-3
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
ULM ULM 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 5 11 2
Jacksonville State JSU 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 9 2

W: Abrams, Victoria (3-0) L: Sarah Currie (1-1)

Game Recap: Softball |

ULM Softball Splits with Jacksonville State on Day Two of Golden Eagle Invitational

Warhawks Respond with Clutch Win in Nightcap

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The ULM softball team (8-1) split its two games with Jacksonville State (6-3) Saturday, Feb. 19, falling 3-2 in an 11-inning affair in game one and rebounding with a 5-2 clutch victory in game two. ULM's season-opening streak of seven-straight wins came to an end, but the Warhawks refocused in game two for the come-from-behind win.
 
"I think we learned a ton today about our team," said ULM head coach Molly Fichtner. "When a streak comes to an end, it stings a little bit more. I don't want our team to be happy about a loss. I don't ever want them to be comfortable with winning. I don't want them to be comfortable with losing. I want them to just give it their all every single day.
 
"It definitely wasn't our best day at the plate, but we found a way to score in both games and I thought our pitchers did a really good job keeping us in all game. We struggled a little bit, but sometimes that's how it goes. I mean we just had to find a way to score and made some adjustments and ended up getting that second game."
 
ULM wraps up its weekend competition at the Golden Eagle Invitational with an 11 a.m. CT game against Mississippi Valley State and a 2 p.m. contest with Southern Miss.
 
 
Jacksonville State 3, ULM 2 (11 inn.)
After a scoreless first three-and-a-half innings, Jacksonville State grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. ULM had turned away the Gamecocks' first scoring threat by throwing the lead batter out at home. Jacksonville State pinch hitter Camryn McLemore singled and moved to second on the play at the plate and advanced to third on a single by Sidney Wagnon. Two-straight walks pushed McLemore across the plate for a 1-0 Gamecock lead.
 
Neither team could advance runner past second in the next two winnings with ULM going three up and three down in both the fifth and the sixth, and Jacksonville State getting two hits and getting on base on an error, but leaving a Gamecock stranded in the fifth inning and two in the sixth.
 
ULM picked up its first hit in the top of the seventh as Gabby Davila singled through the right side and then Madelyn Fletcher doubled to left center to bring Davila home and tie the game at 1-all. With two outs, Alexis Chaves reached base on an error, and while the Gamecocks were in the rundown, Fletcher scored to put the Warhawks up 2-1.
 
Jacksonville State took advantage of two wild pitches in the bottom of the seventh to put the tying run on third and then scored the tying run with a two-out single by the Gamecocks' Hannah Buffington.
 
Both teams experienced deja vue in the next three innings as neither the Warhawks nor the Gamecocks could generate more than a hit. ULM had a single in the top of the eighth but then didn't get another until Kennedy Page had a single in the top of the 11th. Jacksonville State didn't fare much better with a single batter reaching base in the ninth and producing a single in the 10th.
 
In the bottom of the 11th, the Gamecocks' leadoff hitter Abby Perkins walked and then advanced to third when Keeli Bobbitt reached first on an error. Perkins would score after Brantly Bonds singled in the winning run for the 3-2 final.
 
The Warhawks had only four hits for the game. Starting pitcher Kinsey Kackley took the loss, throwing 6.1 innings and allowing two earned runs. Gianni Hulett came in in relief and faced 17 batters in four innings. Kat Carter was in the circle for all 11 innings for Jacksonville State and picked up her third win of the year.
 
ULM 5, Jacksonville State 2,
The Warhawks were ready to get back on the field for game two after the extra-inning setback in game one. Their bats, however, still weren't producing the offense they were hoping for early in the game.
 
Like game one, the first three-and-a-half innings were scoreless with a hit in each inning for the Warhawks and two for the Gamecocks.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Jacksonville State's Addie Robinson doubled to right center and pinch runner Savannah Sudduth moved to third on a ground out and scored on Buffington's single for a 1-0 Gamecock lead. After waiting out a 10-pitch walk, Victoria Abrams worked her way out of a bases-loaded situation to get the third out on a fielder's choice.
 
The Gamecocks couldn't manufacture anything in the fifth despite two singles in the inning. Prior to the start of the sixth, coach Fichtner adjusted the game plan.
 
"Before the sixth inning, I've got everybody in the dugout and I said 'what we're doing is not working … it hasn't been working all day,'" Fichtner recalled. "I explained that we're going to do a different approach – everybody's going to get up in the box and everybody's going to go to the slap. You let the ball travel, you hit it right back up the middle and we're just going to string base hits together. Kennedy Johnson was our lead-off hitter and she executed perfectly. She went up there and she smoked it right back up the middle. It was really fun to watch, because then it got everybody else bought into the now to the game plan or offense and Lou (Lourdes Bacon) came through with that big base hit, that was game-changing, and Kennedy Page put the squeeze down. Those were game-changing moments."
 
The Warhawks led off with two singles and Lourdes Bacon's double drove in Chaves and Kennedy Johnson, and would eventually find herself on third after the Gamecocks' error on the throwback to the infield. Page's perfect squeeze plated Bacon for the Warhawks' third run and a 3-2 advantage.
 
Ashlan Ard's first home run of the year, with Johnson aboard, gave ULM two insurance runs for a 5-2 score. Abrams faced four batters in the bottom of the sixth. She allowed one run off two doubles in the bottom of the seventh before ending the game with a three-pitch strikeout. Abrams picked up her third win with the complete game while Sarah Currie had the loss for the Gamecocks.
 
"There were a lot of high-emotion pitches that were thrown throughout the game and Victoria did a really, really great job staying, even-keeled and attacking the zone and sticking to her game plan," Fichtner said. "She and Coach (Lea) Wodach had a game plan going into it and she executed it wonderfully."
 
 
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