The Owls found moderate success in their second home tournament.
The Owls took won out of five games and had the opportunity to face several uncommon opponents during the I-75 Challenge last weekend at Bailey Park.
The team was hoping to continue its success from the previous weekend in the Kennesaw State Tournament.
The Owls began the tournament on Friday afternoon with a 5-3 victory over the Memphis Tigers.
KSU started strong early on, with a pair of RBI singles in the second and fourth innings by JoJo Johnson and Emma Brinkman. The Tigers tied the score in the sixth with two runs of their own.
The Owls immediately took the lead back in the sixth, the last of their five runs scored on a triple by Hannah Harvey, ensuring that KSU would begin the I-75 challenge on a good note.
Game one on Saturday began as a pitchers duel between the Owls and Coastal Carolina until Ava Strickland opened up the scoring with a solo home run in the fourth inning.
After this, KSU’s offense became stagnant for the remainder of the game, and the Chanticleers answered with two solo shots of their own, soaring past the Owls for a 3-1 win.
Immediately following the conclusion of this contest, the Owls faced Georgia State and won with a final score of 1-0.
The lone run was a sacrifice fly hit by Strickland in the third.
Emma Friedel had an excellent performance on the mound for KSU, pitching a complete game shutout with six strikeouts.
“She really stepped up,” Owls coach Tripp Mackay said. “Had a couple of moments where she battled through and got out of some jams, but overall, just pitched a really good game.”
The I-75 challenge concluded with Sunday’s action, beginning with the Kentucky as game one of the day.
This game, unlike the previous one, was instantly very high scoring. The Wildcats struck first with two runs in the first and the Owls answered right back with one of their own.
The scoring continued in the second with a solo home run by Macie Howes of KSU.
The Wildcats scored twice more in the third, and the Owls answered with two runs of their own, including an inside the park home run from Ava Guzowski, tying the game at four runs apiece.
The Owls couldn’t keep the bats hot in the late innings as the Wildcats scored three unanswered to win the game 7-4.
The final game of the I-75 challenge was a rematch against CCU, which the Chanticleers won in dominating fashion, 15-7.
CCU set the tone early, putting across four runs in the first inning. KSU was able to get two of those runs back but weren’t able to keep up with the bats of the Chanticleers.
Coastal Carolina scored three runs in the fourth inning, and six more in the fifth, stretching their lead to 15-4. The game was called prematurely at the end of the fifth inning.
The Owls will look ahead to Tuesday night when they face the Georgia Tech on the road.
