Peaking at the right time: Shockers softball team run-rules AAC’s best for back-to-back wins

South Florida came to Wichita needing just one victory to clinch sole possession of the American Athletic Conference softball championship.

The Bulls had steamrolled their way to 15 straight victories in conference play behind one of the most dominant pitchers in the country.

But that hasn’t mattered to the Wichita State softball team, which won 4-3 in eight innings with a walk-off home run on Friday and followed that up with a 10-0 run-rule thumping of the Bulls on Saturday. In two days, WSU’s offense piled up a combined 22 hits to spoil USF’s planned party.

The series win improved WSU’s overall record to 31-23, its sixth straight 30-win season under coach Kristi Bredbenner. The Shockers are 12-8 in AAC play, while USF dropped to 38-17 overall and 16-4 in conference play.

“I hope we’re peaking at the right time,” Bredbenner said. “We’re getting production from up and down the lineup. Everyone is contributing in some way. If we can be the spoiler, then we’ll take it. Hopefully we can take this confidence and momentum with us.”

The dramatics were saved for Friday night when freshman Lauren Mills, from Topeka, cranked a line drive just over the right-field fence for a walk-off home run against USF ace Georgina Corrick, who entered with the most wins (22), strikeouts (221), shutouts (9) and hits allowed per seven innings (3.89) and lowest earned-run average (0.84) in the American.

The four earned runs on Friday were as many earned runs as Corrick has allowed in her last 11 outings, which have spanned 75 2/3 innings. WSU also notched a season-high 10 hits against the likely AAC Player of the Year.

“The home run is a byproduct of what all of us do here at Wichita State University,” Mills said. “God just put the ball right there and let me have a chance to do it. Without my coaching staff, without every single one of my teammates, I couldn’t have done it.”

Friday’s game also featured clutch plays from Madison Perrigan, who hit her 10th home run of the season in the first inning to tie the score, Laurie Derrico, who delivered a two-out RBI double to tie the score in the third inning, then Bailee Nickerson, who threw out a runner at home plate from left field to keep the score tied in the sixth inning.

“We were so pumped up for this game,” Derrico said. “The energy in the dugout was just unreal. We were ready to go. This being my senior weekend, I just wanted to go all out since this is the last time I’ll get the chance to play on this field. We were definitely ready for them.”

The hit parade continued Saturday, as Perrigan and Mills both homered in the first inning for a 3-0 lead. The Shockers strung six hits together in the second inning, tacking on five more runs, then Nickerson blasted a two-run home run in the fourth inning to provide the final result.

“Our focus was to not give up the second game after (Friday),” Perrigan said. “We wanted to stick it to them not once, but two times. Now we want to go after the sweep.”

WSU finished off the 10-0 run-rule victory in the fifth inning, thanks to a superb effort by Erin McDonald in the circle. She faced the minimum 15 batters in a shutout performance that was one hit away from a perfect game.

“It just takes all of the pressure off (when the offense hits),” said McDonald, who won her 13th game. “I know if I go out there and throw it and they catch it, I’m good. I was just hitting my spots and went out there with the same game plan as I always do.”

The Shockers will go for the sweep at 11 a.m. Sunday at Wilkins Stadium on senior day, as the team honors its four exiting seniors in Derrico, Asea Webber, Mauriana Jamele and Bethany Canada.

WSU baseball avoids sweep at Connecticut: After the Shockers’ offense was stymied in a 4-0 loss Friday evening and a 2-1 loss on Saturday, WSU released those offensive frustrations in a 12-5 win on Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader at Connecticut.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for WSU, as it improved to 21-26 overall and 6-12 in AAC play. UConn dropped to 29-19 and 9-9 in conference play.

Paxton Wallace hit a grand slam in the third inning of game 2 for a 5-0 lead, while Mason O’Brien hit a pair of home runs to lead WSU’s offense. Freshman Connery Peters scattered six hits and three walks in seven innings and allowed one earned run to earn his first collegiate victory.

WSU softball 10, South Florida 0 (Game 2)

WP: McDonald (14-11). LP: Doyle (11-11). E: None. LOB: WSU 5, USF 0. HR: WSU, Perrigan, Nickerson, Mills. SB: WSU, Derrico, Perrigan. CS: USF, Sheehan. HBP: None. Umpires: Perry Owens, home; Dallas Apfelbacher, first; Larrey Nagel, third. T: 1:30. A: 484.

WSU softball 4, South Florida 3 (Game 1)

WP: McDonald (13-11). LP: Corrick (22-4). E: WSU, Perrigan. LOB: WSU 5, USF 9. 2B: WSU, Derrico. HR: WSU, Perrigan, Mills. SH: USF, Sheehan, Keen; WSU, Glover. SB: USF, Bruni 2, Sheehan. CS: None. HBP: WSU, Nickerson (by Corrick). Umpires: Larry Nagel, home; Perry Owens, first; Dallas Apfelbacher, third. T: 2:16. A: 354.

WSU baseball 12, Connecticut 5 (Game 3)

Wichita State (21-26)	014	100	051	—	12 8 1
Connecticut (29-19)	001	000	031	—	5 12 1

WP: Peters (1-1). LP: Dunlop (4-4). E: WSU, Cadena; UConn, Woodworth. LOB: WSU 4, UConn 7. 2B: WSU, Wallace; UConn, Phillips 2, Gozzo. HR: WSU, O’Brien 2, Wallace. SB: WSU, Sigrist; UConn, WInkel. HBP: WSU, O’Brien (by Dunlop; UConn, Woodworth (by Walters). Umpires: Sal Giacomantonio, home; Manny Gonzalez, first; Matt Hansel, second; David Condon, third. T: 3:12. A: 1,917.

Wichita State	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG.
Boyer, SS	4	1	1	0	1	1	.340
Katzfey, CF	5	0	0	0	0	1	.276
Ritter, 2B	5	1	1	0	0	0	.330
O’Brien, 1B	4	3	2	2	0	1	.277
Wallace, 3B	4	2	2	4	1	0	.273
Cadena, C	3	1	0	0	2	0	.248
Jackson, RF	4	1	1	0	1	0	.204
Plastiak, DH	4	1	1	2	0	0	.189
Sigrist, LF	2	2	0	0	2	1	.238

Connecticut	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG.
Toppa, LF	5	1	2	1	0	0	.330
Prato, SS	5	1	1	0	0	0	.316
Woodworth, 2B	4	1	1	0	0	0	.353
C. Fedko, DH	3	0	3	2	1	0	.275
K. Fedko, RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	.242
Nucerino, CF	3	0	1	1	1	1	.312
Phillips, C-3B	4	1	3	0	0	1	.273
Langer, 3B	2	0	0	0	0	0	.157
Gozzo, C	2	1	1	0	0	1	.258
Winkel, 1B	1	0	0	0	1	0	.245
Brodnansky, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	.143

Wichita State	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Peters, W	7	6	1	1	3	3	4.88
Walters	1	4	3	3	0	2
Haase	1	2	1	1	0	0	4.39

Connecticut	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Dunlop, L	3	4	5	5	2	0	5.75
Johnson	1	0	1	1	2	0	3.58
Mayock	3	1	0	0	0	3	4.86
Gardner	⅓	0	1	1	1	0	5.54
Wang	⅔	2	4	2	2	1	4.23
Haus	1	1	1	1	0	0	6.75

Connecticut 2, WSU baseball 1 (Game 2)

Wichita State (20-26)	000	010	000	—	1 5 0
Connecticut (29-18)	200	000	00x	—	2 5 1

WP: Kersten (5-3). LP: McGinness (4-4). SV: Wallace (11). E: UConn, Langer. LOB: WSU 6, UConn 5. 2B: UConn, C. Fedko. HR: WSU, Cadena. SB: None. SF: UConn, K. Fedko. HBP: None. Umpires: Sal Giacomantonio, home; Manny Gonzalez, first; Matt Hansel, second; David Condon, third. T: 2:35. A: 1,971.

Wichita State	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG.
Boyer, SS	4	0	1	0	0	1	.340
Katzfey, CF-1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	.277
Ritter, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	.331
O’Brien, 1B	3	0	1	0	0	1	.270
Jackson, CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Wallace, 3B	3	0	0	0	1	0	.263
Slavens, LF	3	0	0	0	1	3	.239
Gibson, RF	4	0	0	0	0	3	.247
Cadena, C	3	1	1	1	0	1	.255
Plastiak, DH	2	0	1	0	0	1	.200
Croft, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	.237

Connecticut	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG.
Toppa, LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	.327
Prato, SS	3	1	1	0	1	1	.320
Woodworth, 2B	3	1	1	0	1	0	.356
C. Fedko, DH	4	0	1	1	0	2	.261
K. Fedko, RF	2	0	1	1	0	0	.250
Nucerino, CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	.312
Gozzo, C	3	0	1	0	0	0	.250
Langer, 3B	3	0	0	0	0	0	.160
Winkel, 1B	3	0	0	0	0	0	.246

Wichita State	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
McGinness, L	7	5	2	2	1	2	4.88
Haase	1	0	0	0	1	3	4.39

Connecticut	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Kersten, W	5⅔	5	1	1	2	5	4.57
Wurster	2	0	0	0	0	3	2.15
Wallace, SV	1⅓	0	0	0	0	2	0.95

Connecticut 4, WSU baseball 0 (Game 1)

WP: Feole (2-3). LP: Eddy (4-6). SV: Wallace (10). E: WSU, Boyer; UConn, Prato, Langer. LOB: WSU 8, UConn 11. 2B: UConn, Prato. SB: UConn, Toppa, Woodworth. SH: UConn, Toppa. HBP: WSU, Cadena (by Dandeneau); UConn, Toppa (by Eddy). Umpires: David Condon, home; Sal Giacomantonio, first; Manny Gonazalez, second; Matt Hensel, third. T: 2:59. A: 2,120.