In dramatic fashion, the Saint Louis University softball team
took both games of a double header at home this Tuesday against
University of Tennessee-Martin.

Game one went into 12 innings and was tied at 4-4 until the
bottom of the 12th when Logan Justice came up with the game winning
hit to score Adrienne May and give the Billikens the 5-4 win.

“We hit with runners in scoring position, better pitches and
were more selective,” said shortstop Ashlee Heady. In the
third inning the Billikens tied the game at 2-2 off of RBI’s
from Heady and Allison Appenfeller.

UTM came bounding back again in the fourth with two runs taking the
4-2 lead.

Again fighting back, May scored on an error and Justice grounded
out to score Heady in the fifth to tie the game.

From then on, pitcher Elizabeth Nielsen allowed only four hits to
shut down the UTM offense.
“Even though we were tired we played every inning like the
first,” Heady said. Nielsen threw all 12 innings to picke up
her 12th win this season. The Billikens finished the game with 14,
hits setting a record at the Billiken Sports Complex.

Almost allowing a bottom-of-the-seventh comeback, the Billikens
took a 9-8 win in game two that ended on a spectacular diving catch
by May in center field.

“Lisa battled and we made extraordinary plays to get us out
of the game,” Heady said. By the third inning, the game was
tied 3-3, but in the fifth, Appenfeller came up with a bases-loaded
single to drive in two runs.

“Up and down the line-up we were all hitting and that keep us
up every inning. Everyone kept contributing,” Heady said.

By the end of the fifth, the Billikens had taken a 9-3 lead that
included a three-run home run by AshLeigh Williams.

“We were more aggressive at the plate and more selective. Our
defense was stronger and we got plays in crucial situations,”
Heady said.

Last weekend Billikens’ hitting woes against University of
South Florida led to a three-game sweep by the Bulls. USF took the
first game in a 7-0 shutout of the Billiken offense, allowing only
two hits throughout the entire game.

Game one remained a pitching duel until the fifth, when USF broke
the game open with a three-run double and that would be all they
would need to top the Billikens.

The Billikens came out strong to begin the second game taking a 1-0
lead in the second off of a single by Melissa Quist.

USF took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning, but the Billikens
struck back in the third to tie the game 2-2. Williams got Kerri
Higgins home off of a double, but the USF offense took over in the
bottom of the third with a two-run home run and later added four
more runs in the bottom of the fourth.

“We played really good defense, but we didn’t get what
we needed out of the offense,” said freshman Jill Pursell.
The 8-2 loss put the Billikens at 13-26 overall and 0-8 in
C-USA.

Looking for ways to improve their hitting the Billikens are working
hard on and off the field.
Repetition is a key to improving hitting in games and hopefully
resulting in hits with runners in scoring position. “We need
to continue our practice schedule and continue to work hard at
it,” Pursell said.

In game three on Sunday, the Billikens were left with a stunning
11-0 loss to USF, now on a 16-game winning streak. USF had a chance
to break the game open in the first inning, but the Billikens held
them off with only one out and bases loaded.

By the bottom of the fourth USF was up 3-0 and by the fifth it was
5-0 off of a Billiken error. In the sixth USF finished off the game
with six runs to take the game 11-0. Again struggling offensively,
the Billikens had only three hits in the game.

“Our hitting is slow to come around but we have been working
on it and are improving,” Renner said. “In the next
couple of games we hope to come around and get the timely hits when
we need too.”

The Billikens take on Charlotte at home in a C-USA double header
this Friday and Saturday.

The Billikens are 15-27 overall and 0-8 in C-USA. “We need to
know that we can win conference games. We need to take a better
approach to conference games and be more focused,” Heady
said.

C-USA Double Header
Who: University of North Carolina-Charlotte 49ers
When: Friday and Saturday
Where: Billiken Sports Complex