Midway Outlasts Softball in Wednesday Doubleheader

COLUMBIA, Ky. – At Marilyn D. Sparks Park, the Lindsey Wilson softball team dropped a pair of one-run non-conference contests to the visiting Eagles of Midway University (Ky.).

In both outings on the afternoon, the Blue Raiders placed the winning-run on the base in the final inning but were unable to work around the Midway defense.

Brylee Pickerell paced the local's offense by finishing 6-for-8 on the day with a couple of doubles and two runs batted in. Desiree Chang and Tanlee Hudgins each produced three hits, and Za'Kiya Sizemore contributed an additional two RBIs.

Game One | Midway 9, Lindsey Wilson 8 (10 Innings)

A four-run first inning by the Eagles set the tone early on in game one, and by the end of the third frame, the visitors had themselves a 5-0 advantage.

Lindsey Wilson began to mount its comeback in the bottom leg of the fourth inning when back-to-back hits by Madyson Jones and Brooklynn Ott each brought across a run to cut the deficit in half.

The following at-bat, the Blue Raiders continued to scratch away, and an RBI-single by Cheyenne Sandoval managed to plate Chang to trim Midway's lead down to 5-3. Then, in the sixth frame, Lindsey Wilson got the big hit it had been searching for off the bat of Sizemore, whose line drive into right field sent home both Brylee Pickerell and Kendall Dailey to tie the game, 5-5.

After both sides came up empty in the seventh, it was on to extra softball with the international tiebreaker rule in effect, placing a base runner at the second bag to start each half-inning.

Another scoreless frame stamped the scorebook in the eighth inning, but in the ninth, the action started to pick up.

Midway struck first to go ahead by one, 6-5, in the top of the inning. However, the Blue Raiders answered right back with an RBI-single by Pickerell to knot the score once again.

Then, in what proved to be the final go-around of the game, the Eagles got three across to restore their lead, and the locals could not make their last push stick despite getting two runners in scoring position.

Grace Adams entered the game in relief in the third frame and fired a season-high eight complete innings with seven strikeouts and one earned run.

Game Two | Midway 2, Lindsey Wilson 1

In what was a much lower-scoring game than the earlier match-up, the Eagles needed only a two-piece in the latter stages of the contest to seal the sweep.

Lindsey Wilson's Abigail Cruz and Midway's Sarah Jo Calhoun put on a pitching clinic through the first three innings, but it was the home team breaking the deadlock in the bottom half of the fourth.

With two outs on the board, Kelsie Bostock stepped up and laid down a hard-hit grounder to the left side. The ball was mishandled by the Eagles' midfielder, allowing Bostock to reach first base safely and Sandoval to score standing up from third, giving the Blue Raiders their only lead of the day.

Unfortunately, the lead did not last long as Midway came storming back in the fifth inning with two runs on three hits to ultimately give the Eagles the win.

In the circle, Cruz posted another complete-game effort. The sophomore allowed two earned runs on nine hits and did not register a single walk allowed.

Lindsey Wilson faces a quick turnaround before hosting Shawnee State University in a weekend, Mid-South series beginning on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. CST.