WKU and Lipscomb were tied, 1-1, until the top of the fifth inning when the Lady Toppers (31-17-1, 10-5 Sun Belt Conference) chose to intentionally walk sophomore Kelsey Cartwright in order to face her younger sister Mimi Cartwright and load the bases, creating force outs all over the infield.

 

The younger Cartwright made the Lady Toppers pay, drilling a laser to right-center field and brining in all three base runners while Lipscomb won 7-1. 

 

“I felt like the difference in the game was Lipscomb had timely hitting and we didn’t,” coach Amy Tudor said.

 

Lipscomb’s next batter doubled down the third base line, bringing the younger Cartwright home and extending the lead to four, 5-1.

 

The Lady Toppers couldn’t produce any runs in the bottom of the fifth, but mustered up a glimmer of hope in the sixth.

 

Kelsie Mattox hit a blooping fly ball to right field and Kelsey the sophomore Cartwright dove for it, but the ball dropped. Mattox rounded first, but Cartwright recovered and threw her out from right field from her knees.

 

WKU couldn’t put together any string of runs after that deflating play by Cartwright and Lipscomb went on to score two more.

 

In all, the Lady Toppers recorded five hits, only three shy of Lipscomb’s eight, but the Lady Bisons, unlike the Lady Toppers, converted those hits into runs.

 

Lipscomb pitcher Ashley Anderson pitched all seven innings and kept the WKU batters guessing, despite recording only four strikeouts.

 

“She did a good job keeping the ball low,” Olivia Watkins, a senior infielder who recorded two of WKU’s five hits, said. “It kept us off balance.”

 

Watkins said that the Lady Toppers will put this game behind them as they begin preparing for a big, two-game conference series with second place South Alabama (34-9, 11-5).

 

“Our main goal is just forget (the loss) and bring our A game Saturday,” Watkins said.​