Feb. 23, 2002
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Beth Enk had career highs of three hits and two RBI and Kristalyn Smith threw her first shutout in more than a year Saturday to lead Western Kentucky University to an 8-0, six-inning softball victory over Liberty at the Sonic Challenge.
The Hilltoppers (5-3) improved to 2-1 on the second day of the event, while the Lady Flames (3-6) fell for the second time in three games.
Enk was 3-for-4 in the game, matching Western's individual season-high hit total. The freshman reached on a bunt single in the second and led off the top of the fourth with a single before breaking open a scoreless game in her third at bat with a one-out double to left-center field that scored pinch-runner Rebecca Minnis and Shelly Floyd.
Sara Alan?s - who finished 2-for-3 with a walk - followed with a double to left to plate Enk. The back-to-back two-base hits matched the Toppers' total in the first seven-plus games.
Western added five runs in the sixth, as both Smith and Brandy Hawkins each hit two-run singles.
Smith took advantage of the Hilltoppers' highest run total of the season, posting her first shutout since a 1-0 defeat of Belmont on April 15, 2000. The junior right-hander retired 15 of the first 18 batters she faced before getting out a sixth-inning jam to preserve WKU's second straight shutout - the Toppers defeated Loyola (Ill.), 1-0, in their second game on the opening day of the event. She allowed three hits and a pair of walks while fanning three.
Allison Terry picked up the Lady Flames' first hit in the bottom of the third, and Amanda Maska and Ashley Pound led off the sixth with back-to-back hits before Smith induced a double-play ground ball and struck out Tiffany Johnson to end the contest due to the eight-run rule.
Liberty pitchers Jennifer Hurley (3-4) and Lindsay Schwind combined to give up nine hits and seven walks, both season bests for Western.
The Toppers will face instate rival Kentucky tonight at 6 p.m. (CST), their second game of the day and fourth of the tournament.
- WKU -
