Patriots sweep No. 1 team in nation

Patriots Amanda Busby throws the ball toward home plate during the Patriots doubleheader sweep against the No. 1 ranked Louisiana College Lady Wildcats on Thursday. Photo by Christy Grant

On Thursday night, the No. 3 Patriots recorded two come-from-behind victories in walk-off fashion in a doubleheader sweep of the No. 1 team in the nation.

In game one, it was Amanda Busby’s walk-off single to left field that scored Megan Hutson for the 5-4 win.

In game two, the win came in perhaps the rarest way to end a softball game. With the bases loaded and the game tied at 3-3, Lady Wildcats’ pitcher Kelly Williams hit Julie Smith in the hand, scoring Busby and giving the Patriots the 4-3 victory in front of the excited home crowd.

“These wins showed a lot about the character of our team and our kids staying composed by never giving up,” Patriots coach Mike Reed said. “In both games, we made some key pitches, defensive stops and got some key at-bats late in the games. Anytime we can get two wins in the conference, especially against a team like Louisiana, is really great for our confidence.”

With the doubleheader sweep, the Patriots improve to 15-1 overall and 3-1 in American Southwest Conference play. Louisiana drops to 14-3 overall and 4-2 in conference.

“We did not score enough runs when we had the chance and it bit us in the back,” Lady Wildcats coach Tim Whitman said. “Playing a team like UT Tyler, you have to take advantage of those opportunities.”

In game one, Louisiana jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning before adding one more run in the third.

The Patriots then cut into the lead on a two-run single by Hutson, making it 3-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Whitney Wyly drove in two on a double, giving the Patriots its first lead at 4-3.

Louisiana quickly responded in their next at-bat when Tayler Trojak hit a solo homerun.

Going into the bottom of the seventh tied at 4-4, Huston got on base with one out on a hit by pitch. Brittanni Hanna followed that up with a bunt single and then Sara DeStefano struck out to make it two outs.

However, Busby came up to the plate and stepped up by ripping a single to left field, scoring Huston for the walk-off win.

Kelsey Ainsworth started the game for the Patriots, going 2 2/3 innings before Jessie Bross took over and threw 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball, getting the win. Williams took the loss for the Lady Wildcats.

In game two, the Patriots got the first lead by scoring one run in the bottom of the first inning.

However, Louisiana responded with three in the top of the third, a rally started by a solo home run from Caitlin Bankston.

The Lady Wildcats kept that 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, where the Patriots finally got another run on the board thanks to two errors on the same play. On the play, Wyly hit a sharp grounder to the second baseman who could not handle it and then made another throwing error at home as Megan Richardson score, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Patriots began with a single by Huston. After two outs, the Lady Wildcats were one more out away from splitting the doubleheader.

After a walk by Busby, DeStefano came up to the plate with Huston on second and popped a short fly ball right over the first baseman’s head, scoring Hutson and tying the game at 3-3.

Louisiana then chose to intentionally walk Richardson to load the bases, leaving Smith with the bases loaded and two outs.

Williams, who lost the first game for the Lady Wildcats, then hit Smith on the first pitch of the at-bat, giving the Patriots the rare hit-by-pitch walk-off victory. Williams recorded her second loss of the day, dropping her to 5-3 on the season.

Stacy Shepherd got the win after pitching 4 1/3 scoreless innings to improve to 3-0 on the year. Kelsey Harrington started the game for the Patriots and lasted only 2 1/3 innings.

“Kelsey got off to a slow start tonight and so did some of our other pitchers but that is a credit to a great lineup that Louisiana brings to the plate,” Reed said. “We always talk about being a “team of stars” and tonight some players stepped up where other players did not and we won as a team.”

On Saturday, the University of the Ozarks came to town and the Patriots came away with an easy doubleheader sweep.

In game one, Ainsworth pitched the complete game, giving up only two hits and no runs in the Patriots 4-0 win.

The Patriots scored one run in the second, third, fourth and fifth inning as DeStefano led all hitters with two hits and two runs batted in.

Ozarks’ Stephany Henson pitched six innings and held the Patriots lineup to only four hits but came away with the loss.

In game two, the Patriots took care of business by winning 6-2.

“Every win we get is important because this conference has four teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation so we need as many wins as possible,” Reed said.

The Patriots currently sit alone in first place in the ASC East Division with a record of 5-1 (17-1 overall).

The Patriots return to action at 4 p.m. Tuesday when they play host to No. 16 DePauw University in a doubleheader.

By Jeremy Cotham Sports Editor