DEMOPOLIS, Ala. – The University of West Alabama softball team blanked Judson College on Tuesday at the Demopolis Sportsplex as UWA claimed the opener 8-0 and routed the Eagles, 16-0 in the second contest.
The Tigers (34-19) scored all eight runs in the final three at bats, including a four-run fifth to break up a scoreless standstill. A misplayed single to left from Meagan Sloke cleared the bases to give the Red and White a 3-0 lead. Ashley Frost plated Sloke with a single up the middle for the fourth run of the frame.
That four-run inning was all UWA hurler Katie Ford (23-6) needed as she went the distance in the shutout. Ford posted a season-best 11 strikeouts and faces two batters over the minimum. JC's Tori Spencer touched Ford for the lone hit in the contest. Whitney Bryant reached base after a UWA fielding miscue in the first. It marked her fifth shutout of the season and eighth complete game for the Garden City, Kan.-native.
UWA added a run in the sixth as it manufactured a run after a leadoff single by Angela Smith and a walk by Anna Shartzer, Caitlyn Bonham delivered a pinch hit RBI single to push the lead out to 5-0. Angela Hanna connected on her team-leading ninth home run of the season and second in as many games with a shot over the right center fence to highlight the Tigers' three-run seventh.
In the second game, UWA's bats remained hot as it posted season-high 15 hits in the rout. Lindsey Skinner's leadoff home run began a four-run, four hit opening frame for the Tigers. Skinner cranked her second homerun of the game in the third. The Vestavia Hills-product also added a single to finish 3-for-3 in at the dish. Senior Mary Wright also turned in three hits and four RBI in the affair.
The Tigers scored in four of the five innings as they opened up a 15-0 advantage with a nine-run, eight-hit third inning. UWA added a single run in the fourth on Wright's final RBI of the day. Stephanie Beahn joined Skinner and Wright with multiple hits. Shartzer extended her current hitting streak to 14 games with a hit in each contest.
Hannah Griffin toed the rubber in the second game and finished with a four-hit blanking of JC. Griffin fanned six in the five-inning game and walked just one. She moved to 4-1on the season.
UWA returns home on Saturday, April 17, hosting Lambuth University in a two-game set. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at the UWA Softball Complex. The Tigers will be honoring their five seniors prior to the opening game. UWA faces North Alabama in a key Gulf South Conference twinbill on Sunday, April 18.
