Offense was abundant for both USF and Wayne State in Friday afternoon's NSIC Tournament game at Sherman Park as the two teams combined for 21 hits and 18. The Cougars hit 0.323 in the box, but that failed to be enough as the Wildcats put together a batting average of 0.379 to take a 10-8 victory.
After walking three straight batters and giving up one run in the first inning, the Cougars offense responded in the second inning, scoring three runs on four hits. Amanda Walters started off a string of four straight Cougar hits when she hit a single to left field. In the next at bat, Shae Hoskins hit a double to left field that sent Walters to third base with Kellen Dewey up to bat. Dewey then hit another double for the Cougars that brought in Walters and Hoskins to give USF their first lead of the day. USF's fourth straight hit came when Taylor Jonas hit a single to centerfield that allowed Kellen Dewey to cross the plate and gave USF a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the second inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Wayne State had a scoring outburst of their own, scoring four runs off of a pair of homers.
The four runs by WSC had USF trailing by two runs, but a five run inning by the Cougars in the top of the fourth put them back up by three runs. With runners on second and third for the Cougars, Erin Scott came to the plate and an error by the Wildcats second baseman allowed Scott to reach safely and brought in Kellen Dewey and Taylor Jonas to tie the game up at five runs apiece. With two outs on the board, Betsy Thomas came up to bat for USF and launched the ball out of the park for a three-run homer to give the Cougars a three run lead.
After a two-run fourth inning, Wayne State knotted things up at eight runs apiece when a Michelle Thille single through the left side brought in one run.
The Wildcats took the lead for good when WSC hit two solo home runs in the bottom of the sixth, giving Wayne State a 10-8 lead.
The Cougars had opportunities late in the game when hits by Shae Hoskins and Kellen Dewey in the top of the seventh loaded the bases, but a groundout by Taylor Jonas ended USF's comeback hopes as they fell by a final score of 10-8.
Amanda Walters (18-9) was charged with the loss as she gave up ten earned runs and 11 hits in her six innings on the mound.
Sara Scheffert (18-11) picked up the win, giving up four earned runs and ten hits on the mound.
The Cougars scored their eight runs on ten hits while committing zero errors.
USF will return to action later this afternoon when they take on Concordia-St. Paul at Sherman Park with first pitch tentatively set for 4 p.m.
