The Sports Inquirer

Release from Kennesaw State Athletics:

The Kennesaw State softball team broke out the brooms for an Atlantic Sun Conference series sweep of Stetson with an 8-1 win over the Hatters on a sunny Saturday (April 4) afternoon at Patricia Wilson Field.

“Wow, what a weekend,” said interim head coach Tory Acheson. “Logan Viers threw a great game and our offense came out swinging today. This was a great team effort. We overcame a couple of injuries and had many different players step up. This team continues to improve in spite of whatever adversity comes our way. I am very happy for these kids!”

The Owls have now won three-straight A-Sun series to move into second place in the league with a 7-5 mark and are 26-13 in overall play. Stetson moves to 22-10 and 5-4 in the conference with the loss.

Senior Natalie Rhodes gave the Owls another quick start with her conference-leading seventh triple of the year to open Saturday’s series finale, before being brought home on a RBI single up the middle from redshirt-sophomore Courtney Sutter. KSU then added runs on a Stetson throwing error and an RBI bloop single to left field from freshman Noelle Winkles for a 3-0 lead in the first.

A solo home run to left field from junior Hillary Kartman in the third then pushed the score to 4-0 in favor of the Owls. It was her team-leading ninth long ball of the season.

The KSU bats came alive again with a four-run inning in the bottom of the sixth on four-straight RBI singles from Sutter and juniors Megan Veringa, Kartman and Kara Chambers to give the Owls an 8-0 edge.

Sophomore starting pitcher Logan Viers threw a gem in the circle and held the Hatters hit-less until the bottom of the sixth inning when Stetson broke up the shutout with a run on a pair of hits in the frame. Viers (6-3) earned the win after allowing just one run on the two hits and striking out four in six innings. Senior Paige Mathews entered in the seventh and closed out the 8-1 victory with three-straight outs.

KSU totaled 13 hits in the win, with Sutter going 2-of-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Kartman added two hits, two RBI and a run, while Rhodes, Veringa and Dennis each tallied a pair of hits on the day.

Courtney Brandt (8-6) took the loss after giving up four earned runs on seven hits in two innings of action.