COLUMBUS, Ga. — The bats came alive and Jordan Hood provided another dominant performance today in Lindsey Wilson’s 7-0 win over St. Gregory’s (Okla.) in an elimination game at the 2014 NAIA Softball World Series at South Commons Softball Complex.
The seventh-seeded Blue Raiders advance to Tuesday to face the loser of fifth-seeded Reinhardt (Ga.) and eighth-seeded Oklahoma City — who plays later today in a winner’s bracket game.
Lindsey Wilson (50-10) recorded 13 hits — including three home runs — against three different St. Gregory’s pitchers to break out of a NAIA Softball World Series slump. While the offense was clicking, Hood hurled her second complete-game shutout of the World Series to aid in staving off elimination.
Hood held the high-powered Cavalier offense off the scoreboard all day, scattering seven hits while striking out five. St. Gregory’s entered the game with a .362 team batting average and having scored 482 runs during the season — both numbers ranking in the top 10 in the NAIA.
While Hood was in control for the majority of the game, she did have to pitch her way out of two jams to collect her team-best 20th complete game and 12th shutout of the season.
After Hood worked a 1-2-3 top of the first, the Lindsey Wilson offense showed glimpses of why it was one of the top offenses in the NAIA this season. The Blue Raiders entered the game hitting .343 as a team with 86 home runs and 410 runs scored.
Lindsey Wilson scored twice in the bottom of the first on three hits. Prior to the three-hit inning, the Blue Raider hitters were 4-for-52 through the first two games at the World Series for a .077 team batting average.
Andrea Whelan started the bottom of the first with her 11th double of the season. AfterMadison Scott grounded out to the right side moving Whelan to third base and aKristina Krupinski strikeout, Amanda Trampe hit her team-leading 17th home run of the season to give Lindsey Wilson a 2-0 lead.
The two-run shot produced Trampe’s NAIA-leading 74th and 75th RBIs of the season
The first two runs of the game and subsequent win for the Blue Raiders continued a trend during the World Series. The team to score first has gone on to win the game in all nine-tournament games in Columbus.
An uneventful second inning turned into the Cavaliers’ first scoring chance of the day in the third inning.
Hood pitched her way out of the first of two major jams on the day with runners on second and third and just one out. The Locust Fork, Ala., junior struck out Randi Yousey — who entered the game eighth in the NAIA with a .532 batting average — and forced Caitlin O’Hagan to pop out to second base to end the St. Gregory’s threat and keep the game at 2-0.
Feeding off Hood’s Houdini act, Krupinski sent St. Gregory’s relieve pitcher Sierra Gallego’s first offering of the bottom of the third over the left field fence for the 3-0 lead. Krupinski’s opposite field shot is her 15th of the season and program-leading 40th of her career.
A quiet fourth inning led to another nerve-wrenching top of the fifth for the Blue Raiders.
After Hood retired the first batter, St. Gregory’s loaded the bases with three straight singles.
But just like in the third inning, Hood was equal to the task. She struck out the next two Cavaliers in the inning to preserve the 3-0 lead.
Just like Krupinski in the third, Abbi Goedde fed off Hood’s escape act in the bottom of the sixth. In near-identical fashion, Goedde hit Gallego’s first pitch of the inning over the left field fence for the Blue Raiders’ third homer of the day and a 4-0 lead.
Goedde’s shot — her 16th home run of the season — was the start of a four-run sixth inning that pushed the Lindsey Wilson lead to 7-0.
Travatia Bowden and Hood each followed with singles chasing Gallego from the game. Following an outstanding defensive play by Melanie Gladden at shortstop off the bat ofBrittney Graves, Whelan provided her third hit of the day driving home Bowden andAshley Hughes — who came on to pinch run for Hood — for the 6-0 lead.
Madison Scott added a RBI single plating Whelan for the 7-0 lead.
Hood closed out the game with her 19th scoreless inning in her 20 innings pitched at the World Series. She improves to 26-3 on the season with the win.
Lindsey Wilson improves to 10-0 this season in games following a loss. The Blue Raiders have out-scored the opposition 97-20 in those 10 wins.
Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit today for the Blue Raiders and three had multiple-hit games. Trampe joined Whelan with three hits while Bowden added two.
St. Gregory’s starter Devon Frazier (20-2) suffered the loss allowing two runs on three hits in 1-1/3 innings. Frazier pitched two-thirds of an inning to start the game and recorded the final two outs of the game in the bottom of the sixth.
St. Gregory’s — the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season champions — finishes its season at 52-12.
Lindsey Wilson advances to face the loser of the Reinhardt (Ga.) and Oklahoma City game at Noon CT on Tuesday in another elimination game.
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