There are a lot of disappearing acts on the market these days, but right now, few are as impressive as the one staged by Lyndsay Butler and Briana Lee.
Forget about sleight of hand. This was strength of arm. Butler and Lee put everything out in full display on Saturday, quieting the Ashland University softball team. The Eagles have been one of the GLIAC's best offensive teams throughout this season but on Saturday (Apr. 19) at Brookside Park, Wayne State's Butler and Lee made those bats disappear.
The Warriors swept the Eagles, 5-0 and 3-0. In the first game, the Eagles punched out 10 hits, but couldn't find home plate. Over seven innings, AU stranded 11 runners.
The Eagles managed only one hit in the nightcap.
AU is 21-14 and 10-8 in GLIAC play. The Warriors are 29-9 and 9-5.
Butler pitched the first game on Saturday and while the Eagles had her on the ropes, they couldn never break through against her. That seemed to be the theme of the day in the first game. In the top of the first, WSU loaded the bases with no outs and didn't score.
The difference in this game was that the Warriors bounced back from that disappointment. In the fourth inning, first baseman Amanda Burnard, singled in the game's first run. Burnard was 3-for-4.
In the sixth inning Lee came off the bench as a pinch hitter and produced an RBI single for a 2-0 WSU lead.
Just to be on the safe side, the Warriors scored three times in the top of the seventh. All of those runs came with two outs. Second baseman Julie Ingratta swatted a two-run triple and she came home moments later on third baseman Jade McGarr's single.
The win moved Butler's record to 14-4. She went the distance and while AU tagged her for 10 hits, she walked just one batter. She struck out five.
Sarah Alley (9-6), took the loss. In seven innings, she permitted 14 hits. Alley didn't walk a batter and struck out two. She was 2-for-4 at the plate.
Center fielder Taylor Menhart and shortstop Jamie Weber also had two hits apiece. Menhart had a double and that was Ashland's lone extra base knock off the afternoon.
In the second game, AU's solitary hit came in the second inning, a single by Kourtney Yarnall. Lee retired the final 11 batters she faced. She didn't walk a batter and fanned six. She's 14-2.
WSU scored twice in the first inning. The first run came home on Emily Bryce's RBI single. Ingratta plated the second run on a fielder's choice.
Designated player Emily Cava singled in another run in the second inning. That was all Lee would need.
McKenna Galloway took the loss. She went two innings and allowed three runs. Brittany Flanigan did her best to keep AU in the game, pitching four scoreless innings in relief.
The Eagles will welcome Findlay to town for a doubleheader on Wednesday (Apr. 23, 4 p.m.).
AU
SOFT/ALK