BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – It was a day of milestones for the Samford University softball team as two individual records fell and the team recorded its' third-consecutive 30 win season thanks to a pair of hard-fought victories (8-1, 14-9) over Western Kentucky University on Saturday, April 23.
"WKU is a great opponent, their lefty (Hannah Parker) had a great change up and I thought all three of their pitchers did a good job of locating and keeping us off balance but I'm really proud of the way our hitters responded in both games today." Head Coach
Mandy Burford said.
"There was a bunch of runs scored with two outs and a lot of runs scored without having to hit the long ball." Burford continued. "There were a couple of home runs today but I was really proud of the way we were able to string hits together."
Seniors
Megan Dowdy and
Callie Brister were on fire at the plate today as the duo went a combined 15-for-20 through the two game span. Dowdy went 7-for-10 with a pair of doubles, which broke the single-season record of 18 set by Michelle Wright in 2001 and tied the career-record of 43 held by Janet Middleton (1999-2002).
Brister made her mark in the Samford record book as she broke the Samford career-record for RBIs (123) which was previously held by Amanda Barrs (2007-2010) with 119. The Tuscaloosa, Alabama native posted five RBIs on the day.
"Two of the hardest workers you are ever going to find." Burford said. "They both fine tune their skill sets every day and they are the type that will text & call, text & call and both will come into my office to watch film. They just fine tune and if something isn't right they'll work to fix it immediately."
Not to be overshadowed by the offensive showing, the Samford pitching staff shined in the two-game series against the Lady Toppers. It all started with redshirt senior
Mollie Hanson's one run three-hit nine-inning complete-game in the initial contest where she recorded 11 strikeouts compared to only one walk.
The Dothan, Alabama native also came in and closed the door on WKU in game two. The Lady Toppers had recorded a season-high in hits and tied the game 9-9 but Hanson shut down the offense for the final inning and a third as WKU failed to gain a hit for the remainder of the game.
"I thought Mollie was lights-out, she did incredible today hitting her spots and forcing ground balls and Becca (
Rebecca Leonard) pitched exceptionally well today too. It was just tough luck that we couldn't field ball behind her in the second game."
The Bulldogs persevered through tough circumstances but came out ahead in both games to record their third-straight 30 win season. The program earned it's first in 2014 when the team won 38 games and followed up with 33 in 2015 along with the highest ever SoCon regular season finish.
"I honestly didn't realize where we stood as far as the wins and losses go. I just expect big things from this ball club this year." Burford said. "We set our goals high and we set our expectations high but I don't think we set a goal of how many wins we want to reach. We just know to accomplish what we want to accomplish that we have to win a lot of ballgames."
"However, I'm glad that we have got 30 wins under our belt now. It's a whole team and staff effort, it's not just on one person, it's attributed to the hard work everyone has put in and I hope that we can keep this momentum going forward."
The Bulldogs will have a chance to keep the momentum going forward next Tuesday, April 26, when the team welcomes in-state foe Alabama A&M in doubleheader action with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
