COLUMBUS, Ga. – An offensive explosion for the Thomas University softball team took place this afternoon in their opening games of the NFCA NAIA Leadoff Classic.
The Lady Night Hawks picked up two wins on the afternoon. They started the tournament off by defeating Friends University (Kan.) in a six inning 11-2 run-rule victory. Thomas then followed up their previous contest with an upset win over No. 13 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) in a 7-4 thriller.
In their first game against Friends, the Lady Night Hawks would plate a run in each of the first three innings. The first game's MVP was freshman catcher
Michael Cooper. The Crawfordville, Fla., native racked up four RBIs by hitting two homeruns, one in the first and the other in the fifth inning. Cooper finished the game 2-for-3 from the plate.
With TU holding on to a 3-0 lead in the fourth, Friends would score their first of two runs for the day. A single by Savana King up the middle would plate Khadijiah Bland from second to cut the TU lead to 3-1. Bland led the inning off with a single to shallow left field.
As previously alluded to, Cooper lifted the Lady Night Hawks to a 6-1 lead in the top of the fifth with her three-run shot. The Lady Falcons managed another run in the bottom frame of the inning to cut TU's lead to 6-2. This push by FU was not enough to muster a viable chance at victory. Thomas would go on to score five more runs in the top of the sixth to end the game in a run-rule, 11-2 victory. Sophomore
Ashley Sikes picked up her fifth win of the season while
Alexa Fair received the save. FU's Brenna Westemeir was credited with the loss.
The momentum did not stop for the Lady Night Hawks in game two as they would score four runs in the bottom of the first. Olivet Nazarene responded with one run in the top of the third off a homer by Lindsey Krippel that cut TU's lead to 4-1. In the bottom of the fourth, Thomas would plate an insurance run to extend its lead to 5-1. The Hunter Green and White begin to feel that the upset victory was close at hand.
The thirteenth-ranked Lady Tigers were not ready to give up in the top of the fifth, center fielder Jordyn Truelock smashed a rise ball over the center field fence to bring ONU to within one, 5-4.
TU's head coach
Bill Wilson has always preached the concept of team victory and lifting each other up in every situation you are faced with. The bottom of the sixth inning was one of those moments for pinch hitter
Kelsey Connolly. The freshman stepped in at a time of need and blasted a two-run shot over the right-center fence on a 2-2 fastball. This hit sealed the upset victory for the Lady Night Hawks in their 7-4 win over Olivet Nazarene. Thomas'
Katie Lopes picked up the win while ONU's Haley Beno suffered the loss.
Thomas improves to 11-3 on the season while Friends drops to 4-5 and No. 13 ONU drops to 0-2 on the year.
The Lady Night Hawks return to action on Saturday, Feb. 28 when they continue their round robin play matchup against No. 3 Reinhardt at 10:00 a.m. Once the round robin games have been completed, each team will receive a bracket placement for the rest of the tournament that continues in a single game elimination format.
For up-to-date information on these games and other TU Athletics, visit
www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, and feature stories of your TU softball team by following them via Twitter at
@NightHawksSoftb.
