Aggies sweep 'Stangs on road
April 4, 2009WICHITA FALLS, Texas (April 4) – After splitting a double-header earlier this week, the Cameron Aggie (25-17, 10-6 LSC North) softball team swept Midwestern State (24-12, 10-6 LSC North) today to take the season series, 3-1. Today across the Red River in Wichita Falls, CU won the opener 7-5 and stayed on top to win the nightcap 2-1. With the sweep CU moves ahead of MSU and is now in third place in the Lone Star Conference North Division.
“I was really proud of the way the team stepped up and played today,” Head Coach Beth Watson said. “This double-header meant a lot to us, and to come out and sweep it was huge, especially on the road.”
Cameron was in control for much of today’s first game, posting 5 runs in the first two innings. The Aggies remained ahead for the remainder of the game, and at one time held a 7-0 lead. A Mustang rally late in the game made things interesting, but the Aggies were able to stave off the comeback attempt.
CU scored 7 runs on 7 hits in the game but committed a trio of errors, while MSU scored their 5 runs on 12 hits with just 1 error. The Aggies did a much better job than the Mustangs of moving runners around the bases today, as CU left just 6 runners on base and MSU stranded 11 runners.
The Black and Gold kept their foot on the gas and continued on for the sweep this afternoon. Neither team was able to post a run until the Aggies put a two-spot on the board in the top of the third. That proved to be all the runs Cameron needed, although Midwestern State added a single run late in the game.
In the win the Aggies recorded 2 runs on 5 hits with 1 error, while the Mustangs scored a run on 4 hits with 2 errors. Unlike in the afternoon’s opener, CU stranded more runners than MSU, 8-3.
Junior Ashton McBride (9-10) moved a game closer to .500 on the season with the near-complete game victory in today’s first game. She went 5.2 innings and allowed 5 runs, 4 earned, on 11 hits after facing 32 batters. McBride also threw 3 strikeouts.
Following suit in the series finale was freshman Carrie Harvey (15-5) who recorded a save (1) in the first game and a complete game win in the second game. She pitched a total of 8.1 innings today and allowed 1 earned run on 5 hits after facing 30 total batters. Harvey also threw a pair of strikeouts.
“The way both Ashton and Carrie came out and pitched today was really great,” Coach Watson said. “They were really doing a good job of mixing up their pitches and catching the hitters off guard.”
Senior first baseman Jenna Boren had a great day offensively for CU as she accounted for a team-high 3 RBI, including the only 2 in the nightcap. She finished the day 2-6 with a homerun, her thirteenth of the season.
Another of CU’s seniors, rightfielder Shareena Pulse, tied Boren with a team-high 3 RBI on the day after going 2-7 at the plate, 2-4 of which came in the day’s opener. She recorded all of her RBI in the very first game thanks to a bases-clearing double in the second inning.
“Our seniors have really stepped it up in the last month or so, and that is what you like to see at this point in the season,” Coach Watson said. “They have really set a nice example for the younger players.”
CU returns home next week to open another LSC North Division series. Next Tuesday (April 7) the Aggies host the Bulldogs of Southwestern Oklahoma State University in a double-header at 2:00pm at Cameron Field.
