"Before the game, we really emphasized that no deficit could be too large for our team to overcome and little did we know that would come into fruition just a couple innings later," head coach Amy Tudor opened. "We came out and showed our fight and put ourselves in a position to win two big games today. If we continue to work to clean up our walks and be smarter on the base paths we will certainly put ourselves in another positive position tomorrow."
Brittany Vaughn had herself a day, combining for a 6-for-9 showing at the plate with seven RBI, two home runs, a double and a stolen base. Her 4-for-4 performance in game one was her first career four-hit game and included her first multi-home run contest.
WKU moved to 25-20 overall with the day's results and is now 8-9 in Conference USA play. Marshall moved to 23-23-1 on the year and 11-8-1 in C-USA action.
SERIES SCHEDULE
Sat., April 21 – vs. Marshall – 1 p.m. CT – W, 8-6
Sat., April 21 – vs. Marshall – 3 p.m. CT – L, 7-5 (8)
Sun., April 22 – vs. Marshall – 9 a.m. CT – Livestats | CUSA.tv
GAME 44: WKU 8, MARSHALL 6
Trailing 6-0 before its second trip to the plate, WKU responded with eight unanswered runs – tallying at least one each of its final five trips to the plate – to secure its largest come-from-behind victory of the season.
Jordan Vorbrink was the first Hilltopper run across, representing WKU's scoring in the bottom of the second. After retiring the Marshall batters in order in the top of the third, the Red and White got back to work on offense. Brittany Vaughn stepped into the box and sent the first pitch she saw out of the park. Two pitches later, Kelsey McGuffin followed with a longball of her own for WKU's first back-to-back home runs since the 2013 campaign.
WKU kept the offense rolling with a three-run fourth inning to knot the game. Kendall Smith opened things up with a leadoff single before Maddie Bowlds reached on an error, moving Smith into scoring position. After Smith swiped third base, Vaughn stepped into the box and sent her second home run of the game out of the park on a full count to even the score at 6-6.
In the bottom of the fifth, WKU took its first lead of the contest after Rebekah Engelhardt made it to second base on a single and error with one out. Two batters later, Morgan McElroy stepped in for her first at bat of the game and sent a single to right field, allowing Engelhardt to score for the go-ahead strike.
Marshall wasn't going away however, with two outs in the top of the sixth, a Thundering Herd batter singled to centerfield to represent the tying run on the base path. On the fourth pitch of the next at bat, Maddie Bowlds held on to a foul ball after a full-extension dive towards the first base dugout to get the Hilltoppers back on offense.
Jordan Thomas led off the bottom of the sixth with a single before Vaughn followed suit. McGuffin was hit by an 0-2 count pitch to load the bases. Two batters later with one away, Vorbrink drew an RBI hit by pitch for a WKU insurance run, scoring Thomas.
The Thundering Herd led off the top of the seventh with a double to right-center before reliever Kelsey Aikey and the Hilltopper defense shut it down. Aikey would go on to induce a groundout and flyout before registering the final out herself with a strikeout looking to secure her third save of the season.
Shelby Nunn picked up her 14th victory of the season and moved to 14-11 overall after 5.0 innings of work. The freshman struck out three while allowing five earned runs. Aikey closed the game, handling the final two innings while allowing just two hits and zero walks. The sophomore is now up to five saves on her career and three on the year - which ties her for second in the Hilltopper record book.
GAME 45: MARSHALL 7, WKU 5 (8)
Game two begin eerily similar to the day's first tilt as Marshall struck for a big five-run third inning to get the scoring started. The Hilltoppers again responded in the bottom of the frame for a single tally. After a leadoff McElroy single, a sacrifice bunt that Bowlds reached safely on thanks to a Marshall fielding error and a Vaughn single through the left side, WKU added its second run of the contest to cut the deficit to three.
WKU would go on to allow just one Marshall runner to get on base over the next three innings before using a three-run seventh inning to send the contest to extra innings. McElroy dropped a one-out single in just over the Marshall pitcher's glove before moving to second on a Bowlds' base hit. Thomas stepped in and loaded the bases with a single through the right side before Vaughn sent a double to the right-center gap to plate both Bowlds and McElroy to make it a one-run game. After the Thundering Herd intentionally walked McGuffin, Vorbrink stepped into the box and sent a single to left field that allowed Thomas to score and tie the game at 5-5. Paige Carter would follow with a single to load the bases but WKU was unable to strike again for the walk off.
In extras for the fourth C-USA series, the Hilltoppers are still seeking their first extra-inning victory of the season after Marshall was able to retake the lead in the top of the eighth before WKU ended the game with the winning run at the plate.
Throwing the game's final 5.0 innings, Nunn (14-12) took the loss in game two after allowing two runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts. WKU's seventh-inning surge took Aikey off the line for the decision after she tossed 3.0 innings of two-hit ball but allowed five runs.
TOPPER NOTES
- In the bottom of the third inning in game one, WKU knocked back-to-back home runs within three pitches of each other. Brittany Vaughn sent the first pitch she saw to straight-away center to lead off the frame before Kelsey McGuffin sent a 1-0 count ball at PS3. The last time WKU hit back-to-back home runs was vs. SEMO on March 21, 2013.
- Brittany Vaughn also became the first Hilltopper to hit multiple home runs in the same game this season. The redshirt-senior went yard in her second and third at bats of game one and finished with four RBI in the game.
- Trailing 6-0 after the top of the sixth, WKU slowing chipped away at the deficit before Morgan McElroy used an RBI single for the go-ahead hit in the bottom of the sixth after Brittany Vaughn had tied the game at 6-all with her three-run homer.
- Sophomore pitcher Kelsey Aikey secured her third save of the season and the fifth of her career as WKU claimed the day's first game. With the save, Aikey is now tied for the second-most saves in a single season. Aikey also match her single-season school record with her 18th relief appearance of the season. She set the program record of 18 during her freshman campaign. The Cedar Falls, Iowa, native needs just three more relief appearances to tie the career relief appearances program record held by Adrienne Lathrop (2003-06) of 39.
- Freshman Jordan Thomas drew her 38th walk of the season in game two of the doubleheader and now owns sole possession of WKU's single-season walks record with seven regular season games left to play.
How to Follow the Hilltoppers: For complete information on WKU Softball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUSoftball, Instagram @WKU_Softball and Facebook /WKUSoftball.
