TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona softball team slipped past Western Kentucky 6-4 and run-ruled Southern Utah 9-1 in its third and fourth games at the Hillenbrand Invitational on Saturday. With the two wins, UA improved to 7-3 on the season.
The Wildcats finish at the event tomorrow with a game against Southern Utah at 1 p.m.
Western Kentucky (5-3) gave Arizona all it could handle, twice leading and forcing UA to score two go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth to win.
Lini Koria had a home run and three RBIs while going 2 for 2 in the contest, while Kristen Arriola, Shelby Pendley and Chelsea Goodacre each had an RBI in the victory.
Kenzie Fowler went the distance and allowed four runs on six hits while striking out eight. Fowler improved to 2-0 on the season.
Erin Wagner took the loss in relief, as she gave up the go-ahead runs in the sixth. Wagner dropped to 2-1 on the year.
The teams battled and traded runs through the first five innings until bases-loaded walks to Koria and Arriola in the sixth gave Arizona a lead it would not relinquish.
Western Kentucky got the scoring going in the third with a two run-home run by Kelsie Mattox. The Hilltoppers’ lead wouldn’t last long, though, as UA put three runs across in the bottom half. Koria and Chelsea Goodacre doubled in runs in the frame, and Shelby Pendley recorded an RBI groundout.
In the fifth, Western Kentucky snagged the lead back with a pair of runs. Once again, though, the lead was short-lived, as Koria led the bottom half off with her fourth home run of the season to knot the score at 4-4.
Arizona took the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Koria and Arriola drew back-to-back RBI walks with one out.
Western Kentucky got its first two batters on base in the seventh, but Fowler retired the next three hitters to seal the win.
After a slow start, Arizona’s bats woke up in the fifth inning en route to a run-rule 9-1 win over Southern Utah (2-4) in five innings.
Hallie Wilson had four RBIs in the tilt, including a three-run double that ended the game in the bottom of the fifth.
Shelby Babcock allowed one run on four hits while striking out six to improve to 4-3 on the year.
Pendley drove in her team-leading 16th run of the season with an RBI single in the second, and classmate Wilson drove in a run later in the inning with a single to right to give UA a 2-0 lead.
The Thunderbirds cut Arizona’s lead in half in the next inning with a Kelsey Bryant RBI double.
Both squads went quiet from there until the fifth, when Arizona plated seven runs to finish off the win. Koria, Pendley and Goodacre batted in runs in the fifth, leaving the bases loaded with one out for Wilson, and the freshman delivered with a walk-off three-run double.
