"I think we had some timely hitting and I thought Taylor Sanders both of those innings did a really nice job and then Brylee got up and hit a shot to right field," opened head coach Amy Tudor. "We had to get real tough. Obviously, [Rachel] Rook is a really good pitcher, they took her out and put her back in and Foote had a chance to redeem herself and she made the adjustment, which was great. Shelby [Nunn] had great composure on the mound when things weren't going our way and I'm really proud of our overall team effort."
The Hilltoppers are up to 8-1 after two weeks of play in the 2022 season. Halfway through their season-opening 10-game homestand, the Red and White sit at 5-0 when taking the field at the WKU Softball Complex. Coach Tudor's squad is now 52-9 across the last four seasons when playing at home, which climbs to a 68-20 mark for the Tops' fifth-year players.
It didn't take long for Davis to put her mark on Sunday's game as the left fielder made a web-gem worthy diving play to end the bottom of the first as she snagged a ball about to drop just inside the foul line.
Shelby Nunn, who would earn the complete-game win, carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the fourth inning before SEMO would do all of its damage with unearned runs to take a 4-0 lead.
Trailing 4-0 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Hilltoppers quickly turned the tables with five base hits in the span of the first six batters to pull within one at 4-3. Taylor Davis, Taylor Sanders, Bailey Curry, Maddie Bowlds and Brylee Hage all connected for singles before a Randi Drinnon walk loaded the bases with Kennedy Foote stepping into the box. On the second pitch she saw, Foote sent a sacrifice fly to left field, allowing Bowlds to tag up and score easily to knot the game at 5-5. With the play still continuing, Hage would come around and score from second as the throw from the Redhawks' outfielder headed to the backstop. WKU closed the inning with five unanswered runs on five hits to take a 5-4 lead.
With the slimmest of leads, Nunn needed to toss just six pitches to induce three grounders to the left side of the infield where Sanders and TJ Webster took care of business to secure the 5-4 victory.
Nunn finished with just five hits allowed with the final one coming in the top of the fifth before the Hilltoppers retired the final seven SEMO batters of the game. The fifth-year senior tallied one walk against five strikeouts in her third complete-game outing of the season.
COMPLETE WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday
10 a.m. – SEMO def. Central Michigan, 6-0
12:30 p.m. – Bellarmine def. SEMO, 4-3
3 p.m. – WKU def. Central Michigan, 10-2 [6]
5:30 p.m. – WKU def. Bellarmine, 11-1 [5]
Saturday
10 a.m. - Central Michigan def. Bellarmine, 10-1
12:30 p.m. – WKU def. SEMO, 4-3 – [8]
3 p.m. – WKU (1) def. Bellarmine (4), 8-2
5:30 p.m. – SEMO (2) def. Central Michigan (3), 12-4 [5]
Sunday
11 a.m. – Central Michigan def. Bellarmine, 3-1
1:30 p.m. – WKU def. SEMO, 5-4
TOP STORYLINES
- WKU Softball has now faced off against SEMO 10 times in program history. The Tops lead the all-time series 8-2, posting a 5-1 record at home. This weekend marks the first meetings since Feb. 28th, 2016.
- With a pair of come-from-behind wins in the Hilltopper Classic, including Sunday's championship win, WKU is up to three victories of the sort after two weeks of play.
- Head Coach Amy Tudor is now 7-2 in home openers since taking over the helm in 2013. Coach Tudor enters her 18th season as a head coach – ninth on The Hill – and owns a 459-365-2 career coaching record.
