MONROE, La. – With the game scoreless through four innings between the App State softball team and ULM, the Warhawks played small ball to score the game's only runs, using a single, a throwing error and another single to take the lead. ULM held that lead for the duration of the game, as the Warhawks shut out App State 2-0 in the second straight pitcher's duel of the series.
App State (24-15, 4-10 SBC) mustered only four hits on offense on Saturday, and couldn't get the timely hits when it needed to. The Mountaineers once again saw the tying run reach base in the seventh inning with less than two outs, but ULM (28-18, 10-4 SBC) forced a flyout and lineout to end the game. The Mountaineers batted 1-14 with runners on base and 0-8 with runners in scoring position in the game.
Although she took the tough-luck loss,
Bel Varadi, who made her first career start, dazzled in the circle by hurling five innings without allowing an earned run. Varadi struck out two hitters in her outing and held ULM to just a 1-11 mark with runners in scoring position. Additionally,
Camryn Fisher tossed a 1-2-3 sixth inning in relief and struck out her 92nd batter of the season.
How it Happened
Grace Barrett started App State's offensive attack with a single into right field with one out in the first, but the Warhawks worked to strand her. Varadi began her day by posting a zero in the bottom of the inning, but App State couldn't score in the second despite seeing runners on the corners with two outs after
Taylor Schafer and
Emilie Ching reached base.
Both sides went scoreless in each of their next two at-bats, as Varadi and ULM's Skylar Waggoner continued to duel under the hot sun of Monroe, La. App State saw action in the fourth inning thanks to a lead-off bunt hit by
KB Bradshaw, her 199th career hit, but she was stranded at third.
After the Warhawks sat down App State in order in the top of the fifth, ULM saw a runner reach scoring position after a lead-off single. After App State recorded an out, the Warhawks used an error and a single into left field to plate two unearned runs to give them a two-run lead. The Mountaineers put runners on second and third in the sixth after
Leah Gore and Bradshaw walked, but ULM forced a flyout to left field to end the threat.
Fisher came on and kept the Mountaineers within two with a scoreless sixth, and
Macy Hamby led off the final inning with a single. Ching also reached base via a hit-by-pitch to put the go-ahead run at the plate, but ULM's Ashanti McDade retired the next three hitters to secure the victory and the series for the home team.
Saturday Notes
Home runs
App: N/A
ULM: N/A
WP: Skylar Waggoner (7-4): 6 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts
SV: Ashanti McDade (3)
LP:
Bel Varadi (0-1): 5 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs (0 earned runs), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
Up Next
The Mountaineers will look to close the series strong with the finale on Sunday against ULM. First pitch from the ULM Softball Complex is slated for 1 p.m. ET (noon CT), and the contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
