WICHITA -- Wichita State (18-8) used a pair of thrilling finishes to fend off a pesky Western Illinois (1-14) team to sweep the Westerwinds in a midweek doubleheader at Wilkins Stadium Tuesday evening.

Cynthia Verhulst was 4-for-6 with four RBI in the series, while five Shockers recorded multiple hits in game two. On a day the Shockers earned votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 for a second-straight week, it was WSU that needed the last at bat heroics to pull out a pair of wins.

Shockers 8, Western Illinois 7 (8 innings)
Back-to-back hits by Britnee Barnett and Cynthia Verhulst produced the first Shocker run of game two after Verhulst's single to right center brought home Barnett, who doubled one batter before, putting WSU up 1-0 after one.

The Shockers added another run in the second when Kiersten Dixon tripled home third baseman Lauren Coleman to give WSU a 2-0 lead after two. Western Illinois used five-straight hits to put up four runs in the third. Rachel Sinks doubled to lead off the inning, and four consecutive singles gave Western Illinois a 4-2 lead.

The Westerwinds added a run in both the fifth and sixth innings. Britt Mason singled in Lauren Furgala who had reached on a double and stolen third. A lead-off single from Racheal Heagney in the sixth was advanced to third on two ground balls that each resulted in a fielder's choice but no outs. With the bases loaded, a pitch got away from catcher Jessica Spencer, allowing Heagney to score and extend Western Illinois' lead to 6-2. Ashly Bright, brought on in relief, struck out the next three batters to strand runners at second and third.

Lauren Coleman hit a solo blast, the sophomore's first career homerun,sparking the Shocker offense in the bottom half of the sixth. Caley Roberts drew only the second walk of the entire day and Katie McGeeney brought the run home with a single throught the left side, cutting the Westerwinds' lead to two.

Down to the Shockers' last three outs, Britnee Barnett and Cynthia Verhulst started the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back homeruns, tying the game at six, and sending the game to extra innings for the second time that day.

Western Illinois scored in its first chance in extra frames. Beth Golitko singled to left field, brining in the runner placed on second to give WIU a 7-6 lead.

The Shockers wasted no time with the top of the order again, as a leadoff single by Dixon through the right side moved Caley Roberts from second to third, giving WSU runners on the corners with no outs. Dixon went to second on a McGeeney groundout and Kara L'Huillier fouled out before Britnee Barnett beat a close play at first on an infield single that allowed both Dixon and Roberts to score, giving the Shockers another thrilling come from behind win.

Bright (10-6) picked up the win, working the final three innings giving up just one hit and one run while striking out six. Kamren Ferguson took the tough-luck loss, working the final 1.2 innings of relief by giving up three runs on four hits.




Shockers 5, Western Illinois 4 (8 innings)
Racheal Hegney got the Westerwinds on the board first with a RBI single that drove in Colleen Beeble as WIU took a quick 1-0 lead three outs into the game. Cynthia Verhulst ripped a two-out double off the left center wall to bring home Katie McGeeney, who led the inning off with a hit throught the right side, tying the game at 1-1 after a full inning of play.

Western Illinois scored two more in the fourth when a two-out double by Beth Golitko brought home Julie DePolo, giving WIU a 2-1 lead. Anna Nelson then brought home Golitko to give the Westerwinds a 3-1 lead before Smet ended what could have been a big inning after runners got to second and third aided by a Shocker error. But the freshman hurler got Lauren Furgala to ground out to end the threat with no more damage done.

Wichita State, scoreless since the first, came charging back in the sixth. McGeeney got on board for the third time when WIU's Racheal Heagney misplayed a grounder at second. Kara L'Huillier followed with a hit in the right-center gap and Verhulst singled in the same place, crossing McGeeney. Verhulst moved up a base on the throw and a sacrifice fly from Jessica Spencer brought home the runner to knot the game, 3-3.

With the international tiebreaker rule in effect, the Westerwinds pushed a run across in the top of the eighth before the Shockers answered with two in the bottom to pick up the win. Katie McGeeney led the inning off with a triple off the right field wall to bring home Kiersten Dixon to tie the game at 4-4 before Kara L'Huillier's ground ball sent McGeeney home safely on a close play at the plate, pushing the Shockers to the 5-4 win.

Ashly Bright worked the final inning to pick up her ninth win of the season, giving up one run on one hit while striking out two. Kamren Ferguson (1-8) worked the complete game, giving up five runs on six hits while striking out four.

 

Wichita State returns to action at 2 p.m., tomorrow against Missouri in a Wednesday doubleheader at Wilkins Stadium.