Katie Gardner worked through eight innings and totaled six strikeouts at the plate, bringing her strikeout total to 23 in the last five appearances. Rylan Smith pitched the final inning, dealt two strikeouts and recorded the first save of the WKU pitching staff this season.
WKU 2, NM STATE 1 [9inn.]
The Aggies got on the board first with a solo home run into center field in the bottom of three for their third hit of the ballgame.
In the top of the sixth frame, Morgan Sharpe earned a leadoff single up the middle before Taylor Sanders drew a walk and Cheyanne Sales would lay down a sacrifice-bunt to advance runners to second and third base. With bases loaded after Randi Drinnon drew a walk, Sophie Weber shot a ball into deep right field for a sacrifice-fly, sending Sharpe tagging and running across the bag.
After two scoreless innings, the Tops and Aggies headed to the ninth frame, as Kelsey Schmidt led off with a double into right-center field and advanced to third on a passed ball. Brylee Hage would pick up the game-winning RBI, sending Schmidt across the plate off of a single through the left side for the 2-1 game.
With her 10th game started this season, Katie Gardner dealt six strikeouts from the circle, only giving up one run off of seven hits to the Aggies. Rylan Smith came in for relief in the bottom of the ninth inning, retiring two at the plate and recording her first career save.
TOP STORYLINES
- WKU continues the stronghold in the all-time series, now leading 16-8 over NM State.
- Since joining CUSA in 2014, WKU is now 8-3 all-time in conference openers.
- Brylee Hage picked up her seventh multi-hit game of the season, now bringing her career total to 50 games. TJ Webster and Morgan Sharpe also picked up a pair of hits in the ballgame.
- Still atop of the Hilltopper's stat sheet, Morgan Sharpe is currently batting .493 at the plate and leading Conference USA. Taylor Sanders holds 22 RBIs to for second in CUSA.
- As a whole, WKU is leading the league with a .319 batting average.
- Katie Gardner and Rylan Smith both own 44 strikeouts on the season. Gardner is operating with a 1.53 ERA, as Smith has the first save of the WKU pitching staff this season.
- The Tops and Aggies are back in action for game two tomorrow, March 9 in Las Cruces. First pitch is scheduled 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.
