For a full four innings of Thursday’s doubleheader opener against Paris College, Angelina College hitters couldn’t get the wind to cooperate.
With a hard breeze blowing straight into batters’ faces all day long, the hard-hitting Lady Roadrunners watched several potential homers die as outs against the outfield fence.
Then the 17th-ranked Lady ‘Runners switched tactics to a small-ball approach and ended up scoring 36 runs in a 14-3, 22-1 sweep of the Lady Dragons at the Larry Phillips Family Sports Complex in Lufkin.
Trailing 3-1 in the fourth inning of the first game, AC’s ladies began bunting their way aboard. After Nikki Whitehead’s two-run double – set up in part with a bunt single from Jessica Husband – Tristin Anders scored Husband on a suicide squeeze, and Whitehead caught the Dragon defense off-guard long enough to score from second on the same play.
Those short-range hits ignited the offense for the rest of the day, with Makayla Rodger finishing off the opener with a grand-slam in bottom of the fifth for the 14-3 win.
The bats didn’t cool off one bit in the nightcap, with Anders driving in six runs herself, including a bases-loaded triple in the second inning. Anders would finish the doubleheader with eight RBI. Kaylee Ancelot drove in five runs in the second game, and Husband added three more RBI.
Shelby Mixon earned the pitching win in the first game, while McKenna Fryar picked up the win in the nightcap. Kacy Capps pitched a scoreless fifth inning in AC’s 22-1 final.
The Lady Roadrunners (18-6, 5-3) are scheduled to host Northeast Texas Community College in a Saturday doubleheader scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
The e-mail address for AC’s Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelina.edu.