Hot Bats, Aikey's Career Day Propel Tops of Quarterfinals Before Setback to #4 LA Tech

Wednesday, May 9

Charlotte, N.C.

11 a.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

Marshall

Hot Bats, Aikey's Career Day Propel Tops of Quarterfinals Before Setback to #4 LA Tech

5/9/2018 8:04:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 53 Box Score Game 54 Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A career-best nine strikeouts off the arm of Kelsey Aikey combined with timely Hilltopper hitting propelled WKU Softball into the Conference USA Championship semifinals for the second-straight season before a loss to preseason favorite Louisiana Tech ended the Red and White's 2018 campaign. Eighth-seeded WKU upended No. 5 seed Marshall in a 5-2 decision before the Lady Techsters took down the Hilltoppers 6-1.

WKU closed the season with a 28-26 record after the split results on the day. Louisiana Tech improved to 35-21 and will face top-seeded Florida Atlantic on Thursday.

Haylee Towers and Kendall Smith each collected three hits across the day, both posting 3-for-6 postseason outings. Senior Brittany Vaughn (8) and freshman Jordan Thomas (6) each connected with home runs in the day's first contest.

GAME 53: #8 WKU 5, #5 MARSHALL 2

WKU wasted no time getting on the board scoring a pair of runs in the Hilltoppers first trip to the plate. Maddie Bowlds got the offense started by beating out a one-out infield single before Brittany Vaughn blasted her eighth home run of the season. It looked like Marshall might respond in the bottom of the first after a leadoff single but Kendall Smith gunned down the attempted steal. The Thundering Herd ended up getting a pair of runners of via hit by pitches but Aikey responded with a pair of strikeouts to get the Red and White out of the jam.

Aikey continued to dominate in the bottom of the second, extending her streak to four-consecutive strikeouts. Marshall ended the streak with a single through the left side before one of Aikey's two walks on the day, but the righty ace gloved a liner to get the Hilltoppers back on offense. At the plate for the top of the third, Jordan Thomas led off with a solo home run to push WKU's advantage to a 3-0 margin.

Marshall took advantage of two hits and its second walk of the game in the bottom of the third to get on the board on an RBI single. WKU added its final two runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Haylee Towers dropped a perfect bunt single before advancing to second on a throwing error. Towers scored Jordan Vorbrink and advanced Kendall Smith around to third with the RBI play. Two batters later, Kelsey McGuffin had a home run robbed at the wall by the Marshall center fielder but settled for the RBI sacrifice fly as Smith scored.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Thundering Herd had a two-on, one-out situation but Aikey picked up another strikeout before handling a grounder and firing to first to get the Hilltoppers back to the dugout.

Paige Carter opened the top of the seventh with a pinch-hit single up the middle but a fielder's choice replaced her on base with Thomas. Bowlds reached on a fielding error to move Thomas into scoring position but both ended up stranded.

Marshall saw the C-USA Freshman of the Year lead off the top of the seventh with a solo home run but that's all the Thundering Herd would end up with. For the second game in a row, Aikey closed the contest with a swinging strikeout.

Aikey finished with a new career-high nine punchouts in the game and improved to 12-9 on the season. With the help of her defense, Aikey stranded 11 Marshall runners on base after the Thundering Herd outhit WKU 10-7. Seven different Hilltoppers accounted for hits in the contest.

GAME 54: #4 LA TECH 6 | #8 WKU 1

WKU's second game of the day started with Thomas drawing her 40^th walk of the season – what will stand as a new single-season Hilltopper record. Vaughn also drew a walk but a Lady Techster double play ended the Red and White's threat.

Louisiana Tech opened its first game in Charlotte with a single followed by two fielder's choice plays. However, the arm of Smith and tag by Vaughn caught the home squad's runner attempting to steal and got WKU back to the dugout.

Rebekah Engelhardt and Towers singled in the top of the second – the first of two hits for both Hilltoppers in the contest – but the runners ended up stranded again.

In the bottom of the second, the Lady Techsters posted their first of back-to-back three run frames to account for all of their scoring. With a pair of errors, only four of LA Tech's six runs were earned.

WKU scored its lone run in the top of the sixth after Engelhardt knocked a two-out base hit to left center. Smith followed with a double that went to fence in left center that allowed Engelhardt to score all the way from first.

Shelby Nunn took the loss throwing 6.0 frames. The freshman finished the year with a 15-15 record in the circle.

How to Follow the Hilltoppers: For complete information on WKU Softball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUSoftball, Instagram @WKU_Softball and Facebook /WKUSoftball.