March 2, 2012
LAFAYETTE, La. – Texas A&M Corpus Christi completed a comeback effort with a game-winning walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to down the Kentucky softball team by a 3-2 score. The teams endured a one-hour rain delay in the third inning before the Islanders scored three runs over the final two innings to capture the win.
With the loss the Wildcats fall to 7-7 on the season and the Islanders improve to 3-7. Junior Kara Dill was 2-for-4 for the day and scored both of the Wildcats’ runs. Freshman Griffin Joiner drove in a run and junior Alice O’Brien added a 2-for-3 outing with an RBI. Sophomore Ellen Weaver took the loss on the mound to fall to 1-3 on the year.
UK returns to action with a matchup later this afternoon against Stephen F. Austin at approximately 8:00 p.m. ET.
Dill began the top half of the first by wasting little time in extending her hitting streak to 11 games with a single to short. UK’s leadoff batter would shift to third following a sacrifice bunt from senior Brittany Cervantes and a passed ball. Joiner walked to place runners on the corners and O’Brien delivered an RBI single into shallow right field to lift UK to an early 1-0 lead.
Despite a pair of two-out singles Weaver escaped the inning unscathed with a grounder back to sophomore Emily Jolly at second to end the frame.
After the Blue and White fell in order in the top of the second, the Islanders recorded a one-out single in the home portion of the inning. Weaver, however, was unfazed with a strikeout and a pop-up to Dill to end the inning.
Cervantes and senior Rachel Riley both registered a walk in the top half of the third, but UK would leave the runners on the corners following an inning-ending groundout.
Weaver began the third inning with a strikeout and an onslaught of heavy rain struck the Lafayette area. The teams were forced into a one-hour rain delay because of the weather. Following the break, Weaver retired the final two batters of the frame to preserve UK’s 1-0 lead. The lengthy break took a toll on UK’s offensive effort as well, as the Blue and White suffered a three-up and three-down inning in the fourth.
After allowing an inning-opening base on balls in the home half of the fourth, Weaver retired the next three Islander batters she faced to prevent any scoring opportunities.
Dill drilled a one-out triple into the right-center gap in the top of the fifth. It marked the seventh multi-hit game of the season for UK’s junior and the sixth in her last seven outings. Joiner then delivered an RBI single into dead-center for a 2-0 Wildcat advantage. It marked her third consecutive game with an RBI hit.
O’Brien earned her second hit of the game to lead off the sixth. UK suffered a double-play before sophomore Emily Gaines earned a single with two outs. The inning ended with runner Ginny Carroll on second after a stolen base following an inning-ending ground out.
Texas A&M Corpus Christi knotted the score at two apiece in the bottom of the sixth following a pair of hits and also benefiting from a UK error in the frame.
Jolly opened the seventh with a single into right field and shifted to second with heads-up base running. She’d eventually move to third on another stolen bag. With two outs, Joiner was struck with a pitch to place runners on the corners. The inning came to an end with a fly-out to first base without UK pushing across a run.
After striking out the leadoff batter to begin the home half of the seventh, the Islanders notched a bunt single with one out. UK would then log a fly-out to left field to place two outs on the scoreboard before the Islanders notched back-to-back singles up the middle to register the walk-off win.
Follow along with the UK softball program all season long at UKathletics.com.
