BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Austin Peay State University’s softball team improved to 2-1 on the young season, Friday, at Western Kentucky with an 8-6 victory over the Hilltoppers. The contest served as the first of five games in the Holiday Inn Hilltopper Classic.
It’s the first win by the Governors over Western Kentucky since 2006, snapping a nine-game losing streak in the series. It was also the first meeting between the two schools since 2011.
Newcomer Autumn Hanners earned the victory in the circle for Austin Peay (2-1), pitching three shutout inning to conclude the game with just two hits allowed. It’s the first win for the junior in an APSU uniform, while WKU’s Kelsey Jernigan took the loss.
Both offenses clicked from the first inning, combining for five runs in the frame. Starting pitcher Sidney Hooper singled home a pair of runs to begin the game for the Govs, but were countered by the Hilltoppers. Western Kentucky (3-2) recorded three runs in the bottom half of the first – a based loaded walk followed by two RBI.
After knotting the score at 3-3 in the ensuing inning, the third proved to be the deciding frame for the Govs. Senior Mel Pavel drove home the game-winning run – a single to centerfield to score Hooper – while Kendall Vedder brought home Vinchenza DiBenedetto with a liner to right field for the go-ahead score. Austin Peay never looked back en route to its second victory of 2016.
The Govs scored in the first six innings before finally being held to a zero on the scoreboard in the seventh. Vedder delivered a second RBI in the fourth, while Danielle Liermann, Christiana Gable and Rikki Arkansas also notched key hits down the stretch to maintain the lead.
Austin Peay finished with 14 hits and no errors committed defensively.
Offensively, Vedder and Hooper paced APSU with two RBI each, while redshirt freshman Kacy Acree, Liermann, Pavel and Arkansas each recorded multi-hit outings.
The Govs continue play at the Hilltopper Classic, 2:30 p.m., Saturday, in a rematch with host Western Kentucky.