Courtesy of Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Senior Beth Wilson‘s near perfect performance in the circle earned her a five-inning no-hitter as Kansas shutout Baker, 13-0, on Wednesday night at Rock Chalk Park. The victory moved the Jayhawks to an unblemished 6-0 mark during the Fall season.
A pair of walks and a hit batter stood between Wilson and a perfect game. She struck out four Wildcats, three of which came in the opening frame, to pace five shutout innings of work.
“Beth was great tonight,” said head coach Megan Smith. “We had anticipated using more than one pitcher, but I thought she looked great. I wanted to let her go and see what she could do. It’s the best I’ve seen her throw since she has worn a Jayhawk jersey. She was using her drop ball well, her off speed well and she was attacking hitters. She had a little bit of a rough first inning in terms of control issues, but she locked it down after that.”
In the fourth inning, it appeared Baker would get its first base knock to centerfield, but outfielder Briana Evans made the catch to keep the no-hitter intact.
“It’s good to have Briana back and she looked good,” Smith said. “With Beth the type of pitcher she is, our infield is going to get work and that is good for us. We have a really talented infield and they showed that tonight. They made some great plays and backed up their pitcher really well.”
While Wilson and the defense took care of business on the field, the Jayhawk offense also delivered at the plate. KU tallied 15 hits, which is the most for the Jayhawks in a 2014 Fall game. Junior Shannon McGinley, junior Chaley Brickey and freshman Jessie Roane all recorded multi-hit game against the Wildcats. McGinley, Brickey and Evans all collected a pair of RBIs to the lead the team.
“Offensively, we were rusty,” said Smith. “We haven’t been playing or practicing because we’ve been on Fall Break. At the beginning of the game a little bit rusty, but I felt good about how the team settled in offensively. I liked the players coming off the bench and having good at-bats. Taylor Dodson and Katelyn Schumacher had good ones. I think that was a big positive. Overall, I like what I see at the plate. You can see it in their eyes, they are intent and they are ready to attack the ball and you saw that tonight from everyone.”
Back-to-back RBI singles to the left side of the diamond from McGinley and senior Chanin Naudin gave KU a 2-0 lead in the opening frame. The Jayhawks tagged on three more runs in the second inning to increase the lead to 5-0. Brickey plated her first run of the night with a single to centerfield. An error brought in another run and McGinley grounded out, but allowed the third run to cross home plate.
In the third inning, Kansas’ advantage over Baker grew to 8-0 after another three runs came home. Sophomore Taylor McElhaney doubled to left field plating a run, while Brickey brought in her second run of the game with a triple. The final run of the inning was scored off of a Wildcat error.
The KU offense scored five runs on six hits in the fourth frame. Roane jump started the scoring frenzy with base hit to centerfield. Junior Kylee Kennedy doubled to shallow centerfield driving in a run, while Evans plated two runs with a double to left field. Sophomore Taylor Dodson came off the bench and also hit a double to drive in the final Kansas run of the evening.
Wilson sat the batters down in order in the fifth to end the game. She sat down eight-straight batters in order from the second to third innings.
The Jayhawks conclude their fall schedule on Thursday, Oct. 16 against Avila at Rock Chalk Park. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.
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