Hage & Newman Strike for Two-Hit Days as WKU Shuts Out Dayton, 5-0
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Softball secured its seventh-straight win to open the Hilltopper Spring Fling on Friday with a 5-0 win over Dayton. Shelby Nunn worked a complete-game in the circle, helping the Red and White to their first shutout win of the season. At the plate, Brylee Hage and Abby Newman recorded 2-for-3 days, combing for four of the Tops’ seven hits.
“Nunn had great command and composure today,” opened WKU head coach Amy Tudor. “We made all of the plays we needed to in order to shut it down defensively while creating enough offense both at the plate with hits and walks and stolen bases to score enough runs to win. Abby Newman got the call and stepped up both offensively and defensively. Good team toughness today in a chilly game.”
WKU improved to 9-1 with Friday’s win and is now off to the best start in program history through 10 games of a season. Dayton moves to 1-5 in its second weekend of action.
Just four pitches into the game, Dayton already had a runner on third base but Nunn’s first strikeout of the game followed by a grounder to Jordan Ridge at second base got the Hilltoppers back to the dugout still tied at 0-0.
After drawing a one-out walk, Taylor Davis stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch but the Flyers would return the favor of stranding a runner 60 feet from home to end the first frame.
Nunn picked up two more strikeouts in the top of the second before WKU would scratch a run across in the bottom of the inning after Bailey Curry led the frame off with a walk. Curry would ultimately score on a throwing error by the Flyers for the only run WKU would need to clinch the win.
With the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the third, Dayton saw its best chance of the game to get on the board but Nunn would fire off two more strikeouts and get help from Kennedy Foote for a flyball to right field.
In the bottom of the fourth, Randi Drinnon and Foote drew back-to-back two-out walks before Newman sent a single to right-center, pushing the score to 2-0. On the next play, Newman safely stole second while Foote scored on the throw to make the score 3-0.
Dayton’s leadoff batter in the top of the fifth reached on an error before Drinnon teamed up with Ridge during the next at bat to throw out the first runner attempting to steal of her Hilltopper career.
WKU carried that momentum into the bottom of the frame, adding two more runs for the final 5-0 margin. Taylor Sanders led things off with a single before switching corners on a base hit from Ridge. From there, Ridge stole second and Sanders scored on the throw. A double from Brylee Hage would plate Ridge for the closing 5-0 reading.
Nunn would earn the win on the day, improving to a 6-1 record on the season in her fourth complete-game outing and first shutout of the season. The fifth-year righty struck out a season-best seven Flyers while allowing two hits by pitches and a walk. Dayton would strike for four hits on the game, with the final one coming back in the fifth inning.
