The RoundHouse | 4/15/2023 8:35:00 AM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
Win No. 35 featured Wichita State knocking out 13 hits, yet striking out 11 times, while scoring eight runs and feeling it appropriate to credit the opposing pitcher for a job well done.
 
The Shockers defeated Houston 8-7 in 11 innings at Wilkins Stadium, a 3-hour, 57-minute game that expanded the definition of pitchers duel before the hitters decided things. For the 20^th-ranked Shockers, put it in the category of getting the best shot from an underdog and responding to win their 11^th straight game.
 
"Everybody is always going to give us their best game," center fielder Lauren Lucas said. "We joke a lot this year about 'Man, that pitcher threw the best game of her life.' (Houston's Kenna Wilkey) threw very, very well. I'm commending her to the lengths of the earth."
 
Wichita State (35-7, 9-1 American Athletic Conference) walked off a winner on Lucas' sacrifice fly to foul territory in left field that scored Sydney McKinney. McKinney moved to third on a double by Addison Barnard with one out.
 
 

Are you serious, @sydneyrmckinney?! 🤯#NCAASoftball x 🎥 ESPN+ / @GoShockersSBpic.twitter.com/VbutTfBZhj

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) April 15, 2023

 
 
The Shockers defeated Houston (18-20, 5-2) for the eighth straight time after blowing a 5-0 lead and needing a two-out RBI double by catcher Lainee Brown in the 10th to keep playing.
 
"That at-bat for Lainee Brown, when you're down to your last strike and last out and we need a big hit and we got one," Wichita State coach Kristi Bredbenner said. "That gave us some life."
 
Barnard's at-bat ended six encounters with Wilkey that featured two flyball outs, a bunt that turned into an error, a foul-out and a strikeout. In the 11^th, Barnard had seen enough, and felt good enough about her swings, to formulate a plan.
 
Wilkey thrived all night with her changeup, and she threw one by Barnard on her second pitch.
 
"She doesn't go back-to-back a lot," Barnard said. "My plan is to hit the hard, because the change is dirty. I saw it hard, and I went."
 
Barnard blasted the pitch off the wall in left to move McKinney to third. Lucas, who drove in three runs with a third-inning triple, lofted a 1-2 pitch far enough to score McKinney. Lucas went to the plate knowing Houston might walk her to load the bases and set up a force play.
 
"After I took the first strike, my whole goal was to hit a sac fly," Lucas said.
 
Wichita State needed plenty of other clutch plays to hold off the Cougars.
 
McKinney saved at least a run in the third inning by diving for a groundball and throwing a runner out at third from her stomach. First baseman Cam Compton, starting in place of the injured Zoe Jones, went 2 for 5 with a home run.
 
Alison Cooper pitched seven relief innings for the Shockers and kept the game going by holding the Cougars scoreless in the seventh, eighth and ninth. After giving up a solo home run in the 10th, she worked around a leadoff walk in the 11th, helped by two nice plays by Compton at first, to hand the game over to the hitters.
 
 

We play on after Lainee "Clutch" Brown tied it up on this RBI double! pic.twitter.com/jg9t1qDQ9a

— Wichita State Softball (@GoShockersSB) April 15, 2023

Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.