Lady Eagles Take Gritty Eleven Inning Win in Split With Owls

FULTON, Mo. (3/28/25) – The Williams Baptist University softball team split a Friday twinbill with William Woods by the final scores of 2-0 and 1-0 at the Backer Sports Complex in American Midwest Conference play.

Emberlin Caldwell battled in the circle for the Eagles in game one.  Caldwell went six innings with only one earned run and three strikeouts, but was out-dueled by WWU's Taylor Baumhoer going seven innings with no runs allowed.

The Eagles failed to capitalize on the offensive side of the ball, leaving 10 runners on base after drawing five walks from Baumhoer.  

Woods broke the tie in the bottom half of the sixth inning, pushing a run across after a stolen base and an error for the game's first run.  The Owls added an insurance run later in the frame on an RBI single.

Williams threatened in the top of the seventh inning, putting runners on first and second with no outs.  An infield hit loaded the bases with two outs, but WBU failed to score and fell 2-0.

The two teams battled in another pitchers duel in game two, this time between WBU's Morgan Garner and the Owls' Sarah Randermann.

Neither team was able to scratch across any runs for the first 10 innings of the game.

Garner worked out of multiple jams to keep the game tied.  The Owls threatened to walk it off with runners on second and third and one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Garner induced a pop out and a fly out to send the contest to extra innings still tied at 0-0.

WWU had another opportunity to win it in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs, but Garner pitched to the groundout to keep the game scoreless into the 10th.

In the 11th inning, WBU finally broke through for a run on an RBI single from Natalia Watkins into left field that brought home Kaelyn Gooch.  

With the tying run on third base and one out in the bottom half of the 11th, WWU hit a deep fly ball to left field.  Sutton Mitchell made the grab on the run in foul ground, and made a strong throw to cut down the game-tying run at the plate to secure the 1-0 victory in 11 innings.

McKenna Bittle earned the win in the contest after relieving Garner in the 10th.  The two WBU pitchers combined for 11 shutout innings and seven strikeouts.

The split moves WBU to 18-9 overall and 3-3 in AMC play.  The Lady Eagles will return to the field on Saturday, Mar. 29 for two games against Cottey in Nevada, Mo.  First pitch against the Comets is set for 1 p.m.