Wright State softball won their fourth consecutive game, with a third straight shutout as sophomore Ashley Sharp pitched a complete game during a 7-0 victory at the WSU Softball field on Friday, March 25.
“Our pitching has been doing an unbelievable job,” Raiders head coach Lynn Curylo said. “We’re getting it done on both sides of the ball. Our offense is scoring for us and our defense is holding them to nothing.”
Sharp threw five innings of perfect softball before giving up the Phoenix only two hits in the sixth inning after retiring 16 straight batters.
“As a pitcher its not something to think about,” Sharp said. “As soon as you start to think about a perfect game, sometimes you get in your head.”
Senior Hanna Floyd led off the second inning by getting hit by a pitch, stealing second and then advancing to third after a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Macey Gunther. With three balls and two strikes, junior Libby Pfeffer drove Floyd in on a single to third base for the first run of the game.
Pfeffer made diving catch behind second base in the top of the fourth for the second out of the inning to assist Sharp to four innings of perfect softball.
“My team had my back today,” Sharp said. “There were definitely some balls that should have gone through. They made some phenomenal plays.”
The bottom of the fourth inning was similar to the second as Floyd was hit by a pitch and stole second again. She advanced to third as Gunther grounded out to second, then scored on a bunt by Pfeffer for a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore Honnah Sursor hit a two-out double in the fifth and after a walk by junior Vivi Marquez, both scored on a double to center field by junior Becka Peterson for a 4-0 lead.
The two-out rally continued for WSU as Floyd was hit by a pitch for a third time before Gunther smashed a three-run homerun to extend the lead to seven.
“She (Gunther) is such a spark plug. She’s an igniter,” Curylo said. “She steps into that box and every time the way she carries herself she’s going to get something done. There’s never a doubt. We know she’s going to put the bat on the ball.”
Wright State (13-13; Horizon 1-0) and Green Bay (9-19; Horizon 0-1) will complete their three-game series with a double-header at the WSU Softball Field on Saturday, March 26 beginning at 1:00 p.m.
