"It's great to come out and play at home," said head coach Amy Tudor. "Now we have to get ready to head out to Virginia [to play Liberty], good thing for us is I feel like we pitched the ball really well and had timely hitting."
Right-hander Katie Gardner pitched her seventh complete game of the season, battling with her defense to limit the Bearkats to only a run and three hits in seven innings.
WKU 5, SAM HOUSTON 1
Identical to last night's game, Sam Houston picked up their lone run off of a solo home run down the middle in the top of the first inning.
After Brylee Hage drew four balls at the plate, Taylor Sanders took a big swing at the 2-2 pitch and took the ball deep into left field for the Hilltoppers' 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first. WKU's all-time home runs leader collected her 12th homer of the season, breaking a career record for the slugger.
Next time in the batter's box for the Tops, Sophie Weber went yard and earned her first home run in nearly a month to give the Hilltoppers a two-run lead after two frames.
Annie White picked up the final two runs of the ballgame for the Hilltoppers. She shot a single up the middle in the third inning before hitting a sacrifice-fly in the fifth to score Hage both times.
Katie Gardner picked up her ninth win and kept Sam Houston to a lone run in a complete game. The Bowling Green native gave up only three hits and two walks while retiring two at the plate from the circle.
TOP STORYLINES
- WKU holds the all-time series at 3-0.
- Taylor Sanders had a multi-RBI day at the plate, now 16 RBIs away from tying the all-time program record.
- As a whole, WKU is leading Conference USA with a .319 batting average and .978 fielding rate.
- TJ Webster leads the Tops with a .441 batting average, while Morgan Sharpe owns 45 hits on the season. Both lead CUSA in their category.
- Katie Gardner is operating with a 2.02 ERA to lead the WKU pitching staff, producing 73 strikeouts at the plate. Rylan Smith is next in line with a 2.50 ERA and 79 strikeouts.
- The Hilltoppers are back at the WKU Softball Complex, Wednesday, April 3 for a midweek tilt with Lipscomb. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT.
How to Follow Hilltopper Softball: For complete information on WKU Softball, follow the team on X at @WKUSoftball, Instagram @WKU_Softball, and Facebook/WKUSoftball.
