Lipscomb was eliminated from the NCAA Tuscaloosa regional tournament Saturday by falling 10-1 to Arizona State. It was the second loss to Arizona State, which dropped Lipscomb into the losers’ bracket by winning 4-3 Friday.
The Lady Bisons played two games Saturday, both games cut short due to the run rule, but only the first one — a victory over Alabama State — came out in Lipscomb’s favor, with a 14-0 lead after five innings enough to send the Lady Hornets packing.
The scoring started early in the first elimination game Saturday against Alabama State. In the second inning, Sarah Higgins was walked, advanced to third off of a Jordan Fortel grounder that got popped into the air, and then scored on the next batter.
Khayla Green then hit a single to drive Fortel to third, and with a bases-loaded walk, two batters later scored her.
Alabama State then made a pitching change, but it didn’t help things for the Lady Hornets. A grounder from Graysen Gladden scored two to make it 4-0. Peyton Ward hit a line drive over a third that bounced off the wall. The hit scored two runners to make the score 6-0.
A couple of batters later, the bases were loaded again. Jenna Pealor hit a grand slam, her eighth home run of the season, that increased the Lady Bisons’ lead to 10-0.
Lipscomb added four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the game ended in the top of the next inning due to the run-ahead rule. The win set up a rematch with Arizona State University, which lost to Alabama 7-4 earlier Saturday.
Against Arizona State, the first five innings were a battle of the pitchers. Only one run was allowed by each team’s pitcher, with Arizona State’s Samantha Mejia recording five strikeouts.
Mandy Jordan and Mejia led their respective teams to back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the top and bottom of the fourth.
Kindra Hackbarth of Arizona State left the game in the fifth inning with an apparent left shoulder injury on a slide to second base. She would return in the sixth inning.
It wasn’t until the sixth inning that the game was blown open for the Sun Devils. It started off with a shot that fell into the outfield and was fumbled, which allowed Skylar McCarty to score.
Allison Tatnall hit a sacrifice fly to score another run. Kiara Kennedy hit a single to score Gortarez and Olivia Miller to make it 5-1.
Loomis and Gortarez both hit RBIs to increase Arizona State’s lead to 9-1. With another run added, and the run-ahead rule in effect, Lipscomb did not score in the bottom of the inning and the game ended with a score of 10-1 in six innings.
Arizona State’s hopes for the regional title were dashed Sunday when the Alabama Crimson Tide came back from a five-run deficit to win 9-8.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics.