Western took a 4-2 lead into the top of the seventh in game two, but could not hold on, as UofL’s Sara Bausher crushed a three-run, two-out homer to give the Cards a 5-4 win. Bausher’s thee-run shot, her second homer of the day, overshadowed the efforts of WKU junior Dana Rey, who put Western on top with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth.
The Toppers return to action this weekend when they begin Sun Belt Conference play with a four-game series against Middle Tennessee at the WKU Softball Complex (April 9-10). Friday’s action will begin at 3 p.m. (CST), while Saturday’s doubleheader is slated to start at 1 p.m.
Louisville 8, Western Kentucky 1 (game one)
The Cardinals belted a season-high four home runs, two of which came compliments of catcher Lacy Wood, to coast to an 8-1 win over the Hilltoppers in game one. Western trailed by just one run, 2-1, through five innings, but junior Ashley Schwartz came on in relief of starter Allison Silver (12-5) and allowed six runs over the final two innings.
Louisville’s Catherine Bishop and Kady Garrick (14-4) combined to hold Western to just three hits in the game, the biggest of which came via senior Jessie Richardson, who ripped her seventh homer of the season in the bottom of the fifth.
Courtney Moore put the Cardinals on the board in the top of the second with a two-run shot off Silver. The two-run lead held up until the fifth, when Richardson answered with a solo shot. But UofL’s home run derby picked up again in the sixth when Wood got things going with her first homer of the game, a solo shot to make it 3-0. Moore then tacked on her third RBI of the game with a run-scoring single. Back-to-back homers by Sara Bausher, her sixth of the year, and Moore capped off the Cardinals’ scoring.
Senior Riley Garcia and sophomore Natasha Sevco accounted for WKU’s only other hits in the contest. Garrick pitched the final four innings to pick up her 14th win of the year, allowing only one hit (Richardson’s homer) over that span.
Louisville 5, Western Kentucky 4 (game two)
The Hilltoppers scored a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and appeared set to knock off the visiting Cardinals after Rey’s two-run shot gave them a 4-2 lead heading into the seventh. Louisville had other ideas, however, as Bausher came through with her second homer of the day to give the Cardinals the sweep.
The Cardinals pushed across a run in the top of the third when Shannon Nord followed a one-out triple by Audrey Rendon with an RBI single to make it 1-0. After Louisville’s Bishop opened the game with four scoreless innings on the mound, the Cardinals turned the game over to Aja Sherman (9-2) in the fifth inning, but their 1-0 advantage would not hold up.
In an inning marred by past balls, wild pitches and control problems (four walks in the frame), Sherman could not protect the lead, blowing the save opportunity after surrendering two runs to Western. Sophomore Bailey Rolfs and freshman Lindsay Gatti drew consecutive walks to lead off the inning. Pinch runner Renikka Toliver worked her way over to third after a passed ball by UofL’s Kristi Rozelle, and tied the game at 1-all after an RBI single by Rey. Pinch runner Jen Ballance made it 2-1 by scoring off the third passed ball of the inning. Sherman responded by fanning the next two Western batters, but then loaded the bases with two more walks. WKU failed to plate any insurance runs, as Sherman got the next batter to line out to second and end the inning.
Western’s advantage was short lived, however, as Lisa Estes tied the game at 2-all with an RBI single in the top of the sixth. Louisville threatened to tack on a few go-ahead runs with two on and one out, but sophomore Adrienne Lathrop (8-6) got Sherman to hit in to a 5-3 double play to escape the jam.
The roller coaster continued in the bottom half of the frame as Rey reached a season-high three RBI with her two-run homer (scoring junior Shelly Floyd, who stole a career-high two bases in the losing effort). Garcia tried to spark a WKU rally in the bottom of the seventh with a one-out single, but Sherman (who walked five and struck out six in the game) got the next two Toppers out to seal the win.
