The Terrific Ten has you covered on all the best highlights from all the action across college softball on Thursday!
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1. In a matchup of top-10 teams, Florida State took two wins over Clemson, tripling the Tigers’ season loss total. The Noles outscored the Tigers 11-1 across the two games and got to both Valerie Cagle and Millie Thompson, Clemson’s excellent 1-2 pitching punch. A three-run fifth and a four-run sixth were all the offense that FSU needed in game one, with the bat of Micaela Edenfield providing the biggest impact. Edenfield notched a two-run double in the fifth inning, then followed that up with a 3-run home run in the sixth, accounting for five of her team’s runs all on her own. In game two, Jahni Kerr led the offense, notching an RBI single in the fourth inning and adding a solo home run in the sixth as an insurance run.
2. Jordan Woolery has proven that she can step up when her team needs her, and she stepped up in a big way in the series opener against Oregon State. Woolery hit a pair of home runs against the Beavers, collecting five RBIs and accounting for five of her team’s six runs in game one of the series. It was Woolery’s first career multi-home run game and set a new career high in RBIs.
3. Dariana Orme had a one-run cushion and that was all she needed, as she led Baylor to a 1-0 upset win over Tennessee. Playing the Lady Vols in Knoxville as part of both teams’ conference bye weeks, the Bears got a leadoff double from Mckenzie Wilson and an RBI single from Sam Collazo to take an early 1-0 lead on Tennessee ace Ashley Rogers. Neither team ever scored again, as Orme held down the Lady Vol offense and led her team to the upset victory.
4. Lexi Winters took matters into her own hands in game two of a doubleheader, as the Charlotte catcher notched a trio of home runs to help sweep the two games against Middle Tennessee. Winters, starting behind the plate, started things off with a three-run shot in the first inning, a 4-run inning for the Niners. She added a two-run dinger in the fourth inning and followed that with another two-run shot in the sixth that added some needed insurance runs for Charlotte and ultimately gave them their 9-5 final score. The true freshman backstop doubled her season’s home run total in the game.
5. Presbyterian leadoff hitter Layna Johnson had herself quite a day at the plate, going 4-4 and piloting her team to a win in the opening game of a doubleheader against Radford. Johnson was perfect at the plate, with three singles and a home run. She stole three bases and notched four RBIs, all of them on a late-inning grand slam that capped a 6-run comeback by the Blue Hose.
6. Wichita State put a hurtin’Â on Memphis, downing the Tigers 20-0 in the Bluff City. Coming off a huge midweek win over Oklahoma State and after sitting through a lot of rain in Memphis, the Shockers took to the field with a vengeance and made quick work of their conference foes. The Shockers scored eight runs in the third inning, five in the 4th, and seven in the 5th en route to the lopsided final score. Just five of the Shockers’ 14 hits went for extra bases, including a triple by Sydney McKinney and home runs by Addison Barnard and Sami Hood.
7. Coming off that same midweek game against Wichita State, Oklahoma State started in a bit of lackluster fashion in their series opener against Kansas, ultimately pulling ahead late en route to a 7-5 win. The winning runs came home on a Micaela Wark 2-run home run in the seventh inning after the Jayhawks made a run and tied the game in the previous half-inning. OSU closed the door in the bottom of the 7th to finish off the nail-biting win.
8. Winthrop and Furman both pulled off impressive doubleheader sweeps against perennial conference leaders. In a Big South series against USC Upstate, Winthrop picked up two wins on Thursday, with a two-run single in the 7th inning proving the difference in game one’s 2-1 final score. In game two, the Eagles scored in each of the first two innings and held that lead in a 2-0 final. Furman, for their part, faced off against UNC Greensboro and took a pair of games from the SoCon leaders. Two runs in the ninth inning gave the Paladins a 5-4 win in the opening game of the day, while withstanding a late UNCG charge by scoring two runs in the bottom of the 7th handed the Paladins the doubleheader sweep.
9. Florida Atlantic took game one of their rivalry series against Florida International on Thursday in their own dramatic fashion, riding a 1-1 ballgame into the 10th inning when a bases-loaded RBI single off the left-field wall gave the Owls a 2-1 victory. Gabby Sacco threw a complete game for FAU, earning her conference-leading 14th win and lowering her ERA to 1.41 on the year. Walkoff hero Riley Olson playing hero defensively, as well, saving multiple runs with a diving catch in the right field corner in the 4th inning.
10. Stanford rode the strength of a 4-run fourth en route to a series-opening win against Arizona, beating Wildcats ace Devyn Netz in the victory. Allie Clements had quite a day at the plate for Stanford, going 2-3 and notching three RBIs. A two-run single in the fourth and an RBI double for an insurance run in the sixth were the sophomore DP’s contributions on the day.
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