PULASKI, Tenn. – The Lady Crusaders completed their conference road swing with a pair of victories over UT-Southern Friday afternoon at Royce Hughes Field.
 
Pitching shined in game one, as extra innings were needed to determine a winner and despite WCU out hitting the Firehawks 8-4 in regulation, neither team was able to capitalize.
 
The Lady Crusaders best chance to break the deadlock came in the third inning. With a runner on second base and two outs. It looked like a Lilli Robertson single to second base was going to score Madison Gray, but the UTS defense made the play at the plate to keep the game scoreless.
 
It would not be until the eighth inning that UT-Southern threatened, getting a runner to third but starting pitcher Reanna Nieman ended the threat with her sixth strikeout of the game. Heading into the top of the ninth, Laila Clark started the inning, reaching base on an error with Albanie Fussell reaching on a single to right to put runners on first and second.
 
After a pop out, Harper Dupre provided the hit WCU had been looking for, driving in Clark with a single to right center. Ryanne Hornsby followed with an RBI single to left to give Carey a 2-0 lead. Nieman then set the Firehawks down in order in the bottom half of the inning to seal the win.
 
Game two saw more offense in the first inning than the entire first game had, as UT-Southern took an early 2-1 lead. After two quick outs to start the first inning, Clark and Fussel kept the inning alive with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with Julia Shaw scoring Clark for the first run of the game.
 
The Firehawks answered in the bottom of the frame with two runs on a single to center and a sac fly to take the lead. The lead would only last until a two RBI single by Clark in the third tied the game.
 
After a wild pitch with two outs in the fifth allowed Clark and Liz Cross to advance to second and third. Fussell continued her strong day at the plate, driving in both on a double to left center field with Shaw making it 5-2 WCU with an RBI single to center in the seventh.
 
UTS threatened in the bottom of the seventh pushing across one run but starting pitcher Hornsby ended the threat with a strikeout to complete the sweep.
 
WCU is back in action on Saturday, April 26, as they wrap up the regular season against Faulkner University. Play is set to begin at 1:00 pm at Joseph & Nancy Fail Field.