WKU stays alive with win over Sam Houston

Published 8:00 pm Thursday, May 8, 2025

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Western Kentucky right fielder Kennedy Stinson (22) celebrates hitting a home run in the Hilltoppers’ 3-2 win over the Sam Houston Bearkats in the Conference USA tournament at WKU on Thursday, May 8, 2025. WKU advances to play Louisiana Tech Friday at 2:30 p.m. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS

The Western Kentucky softball team kept its season alive with a 3-2 win over Sam Houston in the Conference USA Tournament on Thursday at the WKU Softball Complex.

Five hours after opening the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Jacksonville State, WKU (30-20-1) was able to bounce back with just enough offense and strong pitching to advance to Friday in the double-elimination tournament.

“I thought we threw it well in the circle,” WKU coach Amy Tudor said. “I thought we hit better in Game 2 than Game 1. We played great defense in both games. You know it’s survive and advance.”

WKU took its first lead of the tournament in the bottom of the second inning with a solo homer from Kennedy Stinson – her eighth of the season – that slammed off the bottom level of the parking structure in left field.

“The batters before me were getting that curveball off the plate a little bit,” Stinson said. “I was like, ‘All right, I am going to take that pitch away if it is there, but if she comes in on me that is the pitch I want.’ She came in on me. I was trying to hunt to the middle third of the plate, find a good ball I could put a barrel on.”

Sam Houston answered in the fourth with a two-run homer from Morgan Holiday to left center to take a brief 2-1 lead.

The Hilltoppers quickly answered in the bottom of the inning when Stinson doubled to start the inning and scored on a double from Maci Masters – WKU’s first hit with a runner in scoring position in the tournament.

The next two batters walked to load the bases with no outs. While WKU was able to scratch across the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Kendle White, the Hilltoppers were unable to get a hit to break it open. WKU finished the day 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and is now 1-for-14 in the tournament.

“Hitting with runners in scoring position is our Achilles heel right now,” Tudor said. “We get people on. Trying to push those runners across, if that can get clicking for us, we will be a lot more potent offense. We are trying to figure it out, probably pressing a little bit. Eight underclassmen are playing and I feel like they are pressing just a little bit.”

WKU was able to protect the slim lead with strong performances from Rylan Smith and Erica Houge. Smith (15-7) went four innings, allowing three hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Houge, who pitched six innings earlier in the day, came in to earn her sixth save of the season with three hitless innings of relief. She allowed a walk with four strikeouts.

“I was surprised how good I felt coming into that second game,” Houge said. “Six innings that first game gets a little tiring sometimes, especially with some of the heat when the sun is out, but I felt great there at the end and I think I threw pretty well for our team to get that win.”

Stinson and Masters paced the offense with two hits each.

WKU are scheduled to face Louisiana Tech in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. A win and WKU would play a second elimination game against either Liberty or Jacksonville State immediately after the first game, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s championship game at noon.

“That’s what the bracket says,” Tudor said. “Hope we show up, play our best and give it all we’ve got.”

Stinson said the team is ready for the challenge, especially after pretty much having to win out to earn the second seed in the tournament. WKU finished the conference season 7-0-1.

“This past month has definitely been a hard one,” Stinson said. “Starting in eighth place and working our way up to the two seed – I think we are ready for it. We’ve put in a lot of hard work. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs and we’ve shown that we can do it.”

SH 000 200 0 – 2 3 0

WKU 010 200 X – 3 7 0

WP: Smith LP: Daniel S: Houge