WKU Softball left the field Sunday afternoon with its Conference USA series loss of the season against the Florida Atlantic Owls. The Owls defeated the Hilltoppers in a rubber match 3-2. 

WKU had two pitchers share time in the circle today, fifth year Shelby Nunn and junior Katie Gardner. Nunn threw for 3.1 innings and allowed three runs on three hits. Gardner pitched for 2.2 innings allowing zero runs on one hit. The Hilltoppers walked away with two runs on five hits and four errors. 

Like the first two games of the series, the Owls (18-17, 6-3 C-USA) took an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning. The first two runs came from sophomore Riley Olson on a two-run RBI double. Olson scored the third run for FAU off a fielding error.  

The Hilltoppers (22-7, 6-3 C-USA) struggled tremendously to get anything going through five innings. They only recorded two hits and three base runners during that stretch. The Owls held the 3-0 advantage until the sixth inning. 

Nunn and Gardner weathered the early FAU storm. Nunn only allowed one base runner in the second and third inning before Gardner relieved her in the fourth with two runners on base. Gardner forced three straight outs and continued the monumentum the rest of the way.    

WKU ended the dry spell. In the top of the sixth inning, the Hilltoppers put their first runner on base on a single from senior Taylor Davis. Junior Brylee Hage followed with a single before fifth-year senior Bailey Curry hit a two-run RBI double. WKU trailed 3-2 heading to the seventh inning.

The Hilltoppers didn’t bring in a third run in the top of the seventh, going three up, three down to end the game. 

Up next on the schedule, the Hilltoppers will face Florida International at the WKU Softball Complex in Bowling Green at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 1.

Softball Reporter Lynda Eernisse can be reached at [email protected].