Lady Aggies rally to split with No. 16 ACU

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LAWTON, Okla. (April 14) - Melinda Farrow's line drive drifted just over the outstretched glove of Abilene Christian shortstop Daisy Barcena Friday, lifting the Cameron softball team to a 7-6 triumph over the 16th-ranked Wildcats at Cameron Field.

Farrow's game-winner was the fourth straight hit to start the bottom of the seventh inning for the Lady Aggies, capping a four-run comeback in the second game of a Lone Star Conference crossover doubleheader. ACU won the first game 5-1.

It was the second win of the season over ACU for Cameron, which improved to 23-27 overall. Coach Brent Shaw's squad will return to LSC North Division action next Tuesday, hosting Southeastern Oklahom in the final home games of the season.

With Cameron trailing 6-5 in its final turn at the plate in Friday's nightcap, Stephanie Bour led the inning off with a solid double to the gap in left-center. Megan Young then singled through the left side, sending Bour to third. Shelby Davis appeared to give the Lady Aggies the game-winning hit in Cameron's next at-bat, but her shot to right-center scooted under the fence for a ground-rule double, halting Young at third base.

But Cameron's victory celebration was delayed only one more batter, as Farrow floated a Jennifer Leal offering just over Barcena and into left field to score Young with the winning run.

Each team scored three runs in the first inning. ACU jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind Jessica Johnson's two-run homer in the first, only to see Cameron tie it on Casey Seabolt's two-run single in the bottom half of the frame.

ACU pulled ahead again in the third, using back-to-back homers by Nicole Deel and Lorena Arreguin to make it 6-3. Cameron cut it to two runs in the bottom of the third when Young beat a throw to home on a fielder's choice and got within a run in the fourth on Bour's RBI triple down the left field line in the fourth.

Jessica Hutton earned the victory in relief. The Choctaw senior started the fourth inning with ACU leading 6-4, but held the Wildcats scoreless the rest of the way, allowing just three hits while striking out three. Leal gave up the two runs on five hits in just over two innings of relief.

Bour and Young each finished 3-for-4 at the plate in the game for Cameron.

Leal (20-4) dominated Cameron in Friday's first contest, scattering six hits and holding the Lady Aggies scoreless until Allie Sanders launched a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to break up the shutout.

ACU, meanwhile, scored once in the first on an RBI single by Johnson and extended its lead with two runs in the fifth, including a leadoff homer by Jenna Daugherty. The Wildcats went up 5-0 in the sixth on a two-run infield single by Daugherty.

Hutton took the loss for Cameron in the first game, tossing her 22nd complete game of the year to move within one of Julea Ricks' school record for complete games in a season. Six Cameron players recorded one hit each in the game.