With one game already in hand, the No. 14 Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lion clinched the series win over the Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College Blue Raiders with a 4-0 shutout Saturday night.
It was a blistering start for the Lady Lions (19-7, 12-4 MSC) after Kennedy Harris-Bennett drew a walk to lead off the second game of the day before promptly swiping second. After Karli Quillin moved her to third with a sacrifice bunt, Harris-Bennett would score the first run of the game thanks to Myleah Hardy’s double to center field. After a popout, senior Catherine Crabb got ahold of a 2-2 pitch, tallying her season’s first long ball – a two-run homer to put FHU on top 3-0.
After the Blue Raiders (16-18, 8-8 MSC) would lead off the home half of the first inning with a single to right field and a sacrifice bunt, Brittany Adair settled in to strike out the next two batters to retire the side.
Neither team would advance a runner farther than first base for the next four innings save a double from Quillin and a single and a wild pitch for LWC until Hardy unloaded on a pitch in the top of the sixth inning to notch her freshman campaign’s sixth home run to push the Lady Lions to the 4-0 final.
In the circle, Brittany Adair (11-4) struck out 11 Saint batters while walking four. The senior’s latest outing placed her in the highest echelon of FHU pitching, with her career’s 25th shutout now being the most thrown by a Lady Lion – a record that has stood more than a decade since Tarrah Tucker set the record in 2009.
At the plate, Catherine Crabb and Myleah Hardy did all of the run damage with both batters driving in two runs.
