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HomeSportsAustin Peay State University Softball splits doubleheader with Gardner-Webb

Austin Peay State University Softball splits doubleheader with Gardner-Webb

APSU Sports Information

Austin Peay State University Lady Govs - APSUBoiling Springs, NC – Red-shirt freshman Kacy Acree drove in five runs – including two on a home run in her first college at bat – to lift the Lady Govs to a 15-12 season-opening victory over Gardner-Webb, Friday afternoon at Brinkley Stadium, before dropping the nightcap, 9-2.

Austin Peay Softball wins first game of the season 15-12 against Gardner-Webb Friday. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Softball wins first game of the season 15-12 against Gardner-Webb Friday. (APSU Sports Information)

Acree would finish Game 1 going 3-for-5 at the plate and followed a lead-off walk to Chandler Groves with a home run over the right field fence in the top of the first inning for a quick 2-0 lead.

It was the first time a Lady Govs had hit a home run in their first college at bat since Mel Pavel turned the trick in the season opener in 2013 versus East Tennessee.

She would follow that with a bases-loaded double in the second inning – driving in three – to help the Lady Govs build a 7-1 lead.

APSU's Kendall VedderAustin Peay (1-1) would take advantage of three walks in the top of the third inning to plate five more runs, with Kendall Vedder driving in a run with a double and Carly Matton and Rikki Arkansas recording RBI singles, as the Lady Govs extended its lead out to 12-4.

Arkansas would finish Game 1 by going 4-for-4 at the plate.

Gardner-Webb (1-3) would score a single run in the bottom of the third and five more in the bottom of the fourth to make it 13-10 and chase APSU starting pitcher Sidney Hooper.

APSU's Kacy AcreeAustin Peay would add two more run in the top of the sixth fifth inning on RBI singles by Groves and Arkansas, while relief pitcher Allie Blackwood (1-0) held the Running Bulldogs to just two runs over their final three at bats for the 15-12 victory.

Game 2 didn’t go as well for Austin Peay with Gardner-Webb jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, before the Lady Govs scored their only two run of the game on a two-run single by Vedder in the top of the second inning to tie the game, 2-2.

Vedder would be the only Lady Gov in Game 2 to record more than one hit, going 2-for-2 at the plate.

APSU's Chandler GrovesIt would be All Gardner-Webb after that, with the Running Bulldogs taking the lead for good in the third inning with a single run, before adding two more in the fifth and breaking the game open with four runs in the sixth for the 9-2 final.

Autumn Hanners (0-1) took the loss for Austin Peay, going six-plus innings before being lifted for Natalie Ayala in the seventh.

Austin Peay is off until next Friday, when they open play in the Holiday Inn Hilltopper Classic at Bowling Green, KY, versus tournament host Western Kentucky.

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