The women’s softball team played 10 games over the course of the nine days during spring break, going to work while the rest of the university enjoyed their time off.
For the second time this season, weather forced the Billikens to change their plans for the weekend of March 6-8. Originally scheduled to play in the Indiana Classic, the women instead went further south to Kennesaw State’s Owl Invitational wher they faced Austin Peay, Kennesaw State and Indiana.
The squad began the weekend against a familiar Austin Peay team, the team’s previously met in February, and again came away with the victory 10-1. Austin Peay started things off with a home run in the first inning, but the Billikens cut them short quickly with three runs by sophomore Alex Nickel, freshman Allie Macfarlane and junior Elizabeth Everingham respectively.
The Billikens went up 8-1 in the third inning, with two two-run home runs by Everingham and senior Lindsay Friedman. The Bills sealed the game in the fifth inning with another home run by Everingham; the game ended 10-1 in the Billikens favor.
Next up was host team Kennesaw State. The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning when Macfarlane and Friedman scored one run each, the latter being a homerun. Nickel notched another run for SLU, granting a 3-0 lead.
SLU racked up two more runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to seal a 7-0 lead.
Junior pitcher Brianna Lore led the Bills against the host team. Lore pitched the second no-hitter of her career. She walked two, struck out two and retired the last 13 of 14 batters she faced.
The Billikens faced a much tougher match the next afternoon against Indiana. After a scoreless first two innings, the action finally started in the third when the Billikens recorded four hits and a lone run by Nickel. Indiana answered in the fourth tying the game 1-1. The game died down in the fifth with no runs, hits or errors and just one hit for each team in the sixth.
The Billikens stepped up in the seventh right off the bat with a double by Lore. Hits by freshman Alyssa Tarquinio and sophomore Hailey Weavers brought pinch runner sophomore Brittany Durant home for SLU to squeak out a 2-1 victory over the Hoosiers.
After sweeping the Owl Invitational 3-0, SLU traveled to Canton, Georgia, for games against Cleveland State and Northern Kentucky.
Cleveland State and SLU were even until the fourth inning when Friedman scored off of a single by Macfarlane. Weavers brought in another run in the fifth inning. The Bills scored two more in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead going into the final inning. Cleveland State gave the Billikens a run for their money in the bottom of the seventh with two runs, but Lore saw the team through the victory by retiring the last three batters.
SLU finished the weekend against Northern Kentucky, winning 10-0 in six innings. Friedman hit her fifth home run of the season, putting the Bills on top early, 2-0. In the sixth inning, Macfarlane hit a grand slam, and Durant finished the inning with a final run off sophomore Macie Wheeler’s single to go up 6-0. Sophomore Emma Buckles scored the 10th run of the game from a single by Nickel.
The Billikens slugged Northern Colorado in the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kansas, 18-0 in five short innings. SLU scored eleven runs in the second inning, giving Northern Colorado no chance.
SLU then beat University of Missouri-Kansas City for their eighth-straight win, tying the school record for most consecutive wins.
In the third game, SLU again faced Northern Colorado where SLU won 11-10 in nine innings.
The Billikens saw their winning streak end after a 1-0 loss to University of Nebraska at Omaha on March 14.
SLU wrapped up its tournament season with a loss to Idaho State 6-1. Idaho State led the Bills the entire game; SLU scoring only at the tail end of the game.
Going into conference play, the team is 15-8 overall, the best start it has ever had. The first A-10 game is against Fordham on March 21, at home, in a doubleheader and single game the following day.
