Softball Sweeps Texas Tech In Conference Home Opener
March 29, 2008
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Rallying behind 12 hits, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Kansas softball (27-8, 2-2 Big 12) topped Texas Tech (9-27, 1-4 Big 12), 12-7, in the nightcap Saturday to complete the series sweep in the Jayhawks’ Big 12 home opener. KU edged the Red Raiders 1-0 in the first game of the day’s doubleheader.
Game 1 Box Score 
Game 1<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Kansas scored its first and only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning, but Val Chapple’s sacrifice fly proved to be the game-winner. Texas Tech walked two KU batters and loaded the bases with a throwing error to first. Chapple then sent a high fly ball into left field to score Stevie Crisosto.
Kansas pitcher Val George scattered just three Red Raider hits throughout the contest holding TTU scoreless in her fifth shutout of the season. George came up big in Texas Tech’s final at-bat reeling off three straight strikes to tally the third and final out to strand the potential tying run on third.
Game 2 Box Score
Game 2
After a quiet game one, the nightcap was anything but as the teams combined for 20 hits and 19 runs. Seven Jayhawks accounted for KU’s 12 hits, just one shy of the team’s season high.
Betsy Wilson had a home run and a double along with a pair of singles as she finished a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate to go along with a career-high six RBIs. Sara Ramirez and Dougie McCaulley also had multiple hits with two a piece. McCaulley added two of Kansas’ 11 RBIs.
Down 1-0 in their first at-bat, the Jayhawks rallied for three runs and added one more to the scoreboard in the second inning to take a 4-1 lead. In the following inning, Wilson notched a three-run home run, her third of the year and second in as many games, to give KU a commanding 7-1 lead.
Texas Tech, however, would come back within two in the top of the fourth. The Red Raiders used a pair of hits and capitalized on a KU error.
Wilson responded with a two-run single, but once again TTU stayed within reach with a pair of runs in its next turn at the plate. Three more Jayhawks crossed home plate in the bottom of the sixth to seal the 12-7 victory.
The Jayhawks return to the diamond next Wednesday, April 2, at Creighton. A doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
