NCAA Softball Recap: FAU 8 – Tulsa 2
Following a miraculous come from behind victory on Friday night, the FAU Lady Owls were rolling with momentum heading into Saturday’s game 2 matchup against Tulsa. That momentum combined with a bit of resiliency was the recipe for success, as the Owls battled back from an early deficit to notch their 40th win of the year. After the game, Coach Clark mentioned her pitching being the driving fire behind her team’s success today.
“We knew Tulsa is good, across the board, hands down, they’re a good opponent. We knew we had to come out, Gabby Sacco gave us a chance early and Ainsley was able to close the door and so because they were dominant on the mound it gave us a chance to breathe offensively,” Coach Clark said.
Tulsa jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead following a 1st inning home run from Haley Morgan, but whether it was the momentum from last night or just classic FAU softball resiliency, the Lady owls never looked back following the top half of that first inning.
As it would go with this gritty squad, Cammeo Presutti led off the game with a walk, and 2 batters later Jesiana Mora was hit by a pitch to set the Owls up with 2 on and 1 out for Kam Jackson. Jackson was outstanding on the day, notching 3 hits, and she delivered here as she smacked a 3-run home run, way past the centerfield fence to put the Owls up 3-1 and from there they were unstoppable. Jackson went 1-3 with a strikeout yesterday, and after the game today she mentioned she wanted to make adjustments heading into this one.
“I was just taking yesterday and trying to make an adjustment. I didn’t have a great day at the plate yesterday, but today in BP I was just working on being on time and I knew she was gonna throw a screw and rise so just focusing on that,” Jackson said.
Gabby Sacco settled in for FAU after allowing the 1st inning home run as in both the second and third she shut down the Golden Hurricane bats 1-2-3, and in the 4th worked out of a 2 on, 1 out jam still without allowing a hit.
The 5th was when the dry spell broke for both sides, as in the top-half of the inning Maci Cole led off the inning with a solo shot to cut the lead to 3-2, and end Sacco’s day after 4 innings only allowing 2 hits, both being solo home runs. Ainsley Lambert came on in relief and worked in and out of jam to hold the 3-2 lead, heading into the bottom half where the Owls opened up the floodgates.
The bases were quickly loaded following another walk from Presutti, and base hits from Presley Leebrick and Mora. Kamryn Jackson notched her 3rd hit of the day on the next at bat with the bases juiced, singling up the middle to make it 4-2, Trinity Schlotterbeck followed her up with a single to right that plated 2 and made it 6-2, and a few batters later Becca Jones scored Jackson on a sac fly to center, which capped off a 4-run 5th inning for the Owls.
Lambert set down Tulsa 1-2-3 in the top of the 6th and for good measure FAU displayed their grittiness in the bottom half, as Kylie Hammonds led off the inning getting hit by a pitch, Leebrick followed her up with a single, the very next at-bat the 2 advanced a base on a wild pitch, and Mora scored Hammonds on a sac fly to make it 8-2.
In the final stanza once again Lambert was lights out, setting down Tulsa 1-2-3 notching her 8th save of the year after only allowing 1 hit over the final 3 innings.
It was a display of dominance from the Owls as the bats showed out with 9 total hits, and the pitching was outstanding allowing only 3 hits.
FAU has one game left on the docket and it’s a big one, as tomorrow with a win the Owls can clinch their first regular season conference title since C-USA in 2018, and what would be their 12th overall. Currently the Owls are tied with Charlotte, who FAU holds multiple tiebreakers over, with a win and an FAU loss Charlotte would clinch regular season title, however if both sides lose, FAU will win the AAC.
