In what was the second meeting between the teams this season, the Lipscomb softball team split in their doubleheader with UAB on Wednesday at Draper Diamond.
In the first game, the Purple and Gold used its defense to propel them to a 2-1 victory. Sophomore Brittany Elmore drove in the two runs on a walk-off double in the first game.
However, in the second game, they struggled to keep the Blazers off the base, resulting in a 5-3 loss.
“Getting the win the first game was huge for us,” Lipscomb coach Kristin Ryman said. “Obviously, we wanted the sweep…we thought we had a chance to win it, but UAB did a really great job of coming back with two runs late.”
The Lady Bisons came into the contest ranked 35th in the nation and with a record of 28-8, so, on paper, they are the better team, but UAB, a member of the Conference USA, has had the upper-hand in the series since the “rivalry” began in 2010.
The Lady Bisons defeated the Blazers 9-5 in February during the Getterman Classic in Waco, Texas.
To Lipscomb’s credit, they earned the Atlantic Sun’s 24th win against a 2013 NCAA Tournament team with the win.
Coming off weekend losses to conference rival USC Upstate, the Lady Bisons wanted to regain some of their confidence against UAB.
“I thought we played well, and we attacked the ball better than we did last weekend,” Ryman said. “That was good to see.”
Coach Ryman gave a lot of credit to the team’s pitching for its win in the first game and added if they had kept their sharpness, they would’ve got the same results in the second game.
The Purple and Gold resume conference play in a three-game series this weekend with in-state conference foe, ETSU.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics