WKU Softball: Season Comes To An End As Blue Raiders One Hit Toppers In 1–0 Defeat

WKU Softball’s magical season came to an end against arch-rival Middle Tennessee as they were one hit in a 1–0 pitchers dual at the…

WKU softball’s magical season came to an end against arch-rival Middle Tennessee as they were one hit in a 1–0 pitchers dual at the Conference USA tournament in Birmingham.

Kelsey Aikey got the start for the Hilltoppers and was uncharacteristically shaky early, loading the bases in the top of the first before rallying to strike out three Blue Raiders in a row to avoid damage.

After WKU threatened in the bottom first, the game turned into a pitching duel as Middle’s Kailey Ahlstrom dueled Aikey inning after inning.

Ahlstrom was dominant, allowing just one hit over seven innings. Despite that, each team repeatedly put runners in scoring position (WKU via walks/errors) but each pitcher was able to escape the threat.

WKU didn’t get their first hit until the bottom of the fifth on a Jordan Vorbrink single.

Scoreless in the seventh inning, Aikey once again found herself in trouble, loading the bases with zero outs. She induced a ground out but Jocelynn De La Cruz bunted home what ended up being the game’s only run. Aikey would then get another ground out and a strikeout to avoid further damage.

With their season on the line, the heart of WKU’s order came to the plate. Kendall Smith started the inning by drawing a walk, was pitch-ran for by Jordan Ridge as Kennedy Sullivan bunted her over to move her to scoring position.

Vorbrink then pop out to the shortstop leaving the season in Paige Carter’s hands. Carter struck out to end the game and WKU’s tournament run early.

Softball is a tricky game, ultimately WKU’s sweep at the hands of Louisiana Tech a few weeks back kept them out of a top two seed and left them susceptible to one stellar pitching performance knocking them out early.

WKU can still technically play in the softball WNIT but this is a disappointing end to a very fun season as softball (CUSA East champs)arguably had the best season of any team on the Hill.

Here are your final stats from tonight’s heartbreaking loss