Kennesaw State dropped the first game of a doubleheader Thursday as the Owls welcomed Radford University to Bailey Park, but the team bounced back in the second game to split the series.
KSU opened the afternoon with a promising start, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead sparked by a two-run double off of the bat of redshirt senior Courtney Sutter in the first inning. The lead was short-lived, however, once Radford responded in the third inning by plating five runs and walking away with a 5-2 win.
The Owls made a comeback in the second game and crushed the Highlanders 11-3.
Just as they did in the first game, the Owls jumped out to an early lead, with an RBI single by redshirt senior Chandler Griffin in the first inning. Kennesaw continued the offensive outburst in the second inning by scoring six more runs.
The big play, which accounted for the majority of the inning’s runs, was a grand slam that was crushed deep to right field by Sutter, extending Kennesaw’s lead to seven.
Radford attempted to stage a comeback and cut into the lead by scoring one run in the fifth inning, and then two more in the top of the sixth. The effort, however, was not enough to spoil the evening for KSU, which clinched the game on yet another grand slam, this time from redshirt freshman Katey Lynch. The Owls sealed the win with a final score of 11-3.
Sutter turned out to be the top offensive performer of the evening for Kennesaw, going 3-for-4 with four runs scored, a double, two home runs and seven RBIs. The two home runs moved Sutter into seventh place on KSU’s all-time career home run list, with a total of 26.
Redshirt junior Abigail Green improved her pitching record to 2-0 with the win, allowing just four hits, two earned runs, and struck out a career-best 10 batters.
Up next for the Owls, the team will travel to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday, March 1, at 7 p.m. before coming back home to host the Bobbie Bailey Memorial Tournament.
