Hilltoppers fall short in 3-2 home loss to Louisville

Published 12:17 am Wednesday, March 26, 2025

By Jeff Nations

Maci Masters delivered the hardest-hit ball you might ever witness in a college softball game.

The Western Kentucky sophomore designated hitter absolutely unloaded on a pitch in the bottom of the first inning, sending the ball crashing off the fifth-story deck of the parking garage located beyond the fence at the WKU Softball Complex.

Masters left the crowd gobsmacked at what was just a foul ball — a rare example of when the Hilltoppers weren’t actively punished for hitting the ball on nose in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Louisville. WKU saw numerous roped line drives find Cardinal gloves on the night the Tops failed to heed the age-old advice of one “Wee Willie” Keeler — hit’em where they ain’t.

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“That’s just the game of softball sometimes — it just doesn’t always go where you want it to go,” WKU coach Amy Tudor said. “But I thought for the most part we had great plate approaches and squared up a lot of balls. They just went right to them.”

WKU (15-14) battled back from an early two-run deficit to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Hilltoppers loaded the bases with no outs when Morgan Sharpe led off with a double, Masters drew a four-pitch walk and Annie White punched a single into center field.

That prompted a pitching change by Louisville (20-12), with left-hander Brooke Gray coming in to replace righty Alyssa Zabala. Charlotte Herron coaxed a four-pitch walk from Gray to knot the score at 2-all with the Tops still in prime shape with no outs and the bases loaded.

Gray got back-to-back strikeouts, then WKU’s Randi Drinnon hit one of those ill-fated hard shots that stayed in the air just long enough for Cardinals center fielder Chelsea Mack to pull it in for the rally-killing out.

“We should’ve capitalized with no outs, runners on all the bags,” Tudor said. “We didn’t come through in that situation and it cost us in the end. It’s a learning lesson. The good thing is that we got on and we had chances — we just didn’t capitalize.”

Louisville loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth against WKU starting pitcher Rylan Smith. The sophomore righty nearly escaped unscathed when she got Cardinals pinch hitter Ava Venturelli to foul out beyond the first-base line, but a wild pitch to the next batter, Ally Alexander, allowed the go-ahead run to score. Alexander walked to reload the bases, but Smith induced a groundout to end the inning.

WKU’s Kendle White delivered a one-out single to ignite the Tops in the bottom of the sixth, but Sharpe’s hard liner to center was snared for an out. Masters drew another four-pitch walk before Annie White sliced a liner to right that again stayed aloft too long to drop for a hit.

The Tops went quietly in the bottom of the seventh with three outs that never left the infield.

Louisville opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when Char Lorenz delivered an RBI single and Bri Despines followed with a run-scoring double for a 2-0 lead.

The Tops answered in the bottom of the first. Kendle White (2-for-4) led off with a double, then Sharpe followed with a long drive to center for a sacrifice fly. That brought up Masters, WKU’s home run leader with eight this season, and the Johnson City, Tennessee, native rattled a ball off the parking structure for that mammoth foul ball before getting the job done with a sac fly RBI to center.

That foul ball, though — Tudor, now in her 12th season coaching the Hilltoppers, had never seen anything like it.

“I’ve never seen someone hit the Conference Championship sign — ever,” Tudor said. “And we’ve had a few put it in the fourth (deck), but not that high.”

Smith took the loss in a complete-game effort, allowing three runs off eight hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts.

The Tops stay home this week, returning to Conference USA competition with a three-game series starting Friday against Louisiana Tech. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday at the WKU Softball Complex.

“I thought it was a good warmup going into this weekend,” Kendle White said. “Obviously we put some runs up on the board and I’m just proud of the way we fought this game. We didn’t come out on top, but I think it was a great warmup going into this weekend.”

Louisville 200 001 0 — 3 8 0

WKU 100 010 0 — 2 6 1

WP: Gray (5-4). LP: Smith (6-3).

About Jeff Nations

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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