Thursday, March 11, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Lipscomb Lady Bisons split a doubleheader with Evansville Thursday night at Draper Diamond.

Sophomore right-hander Whitney Kiihnl threw her third no-hitter and fifth shutout of the season winning game one 6-0.

In the nightcap the Lady Bisons lost 6-4 as Evansville capitalized on a pair of home runs. It was the first loss for the Lady Bisons since Feb. 14, a 3-2 loss at South Alabama. They ended a 17-game winning streak with the loss.

The Lady Bisons are 19-2. Evansville is 5-7.

“It was one of those nights where not everything went our way,” Lady Bisons coach Kristin Ryman said. “I didn’t think we played our worst game by any means. I thought Evansville played exceptionally well. We will learn from it and move on. I don’t think this is going to slow us down.

“We want to figure out what it is going to take for us to be that next level team. I think we are capable of it. I think we are close to being there. The next level teams take care of the games they should win. We are not that next level team consistently yet. I think we can be.”

Evansville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in game two with a run in the third inning. The Lady Bisons answered with one in the third to tie the game.

From then on the game escalated into a home run battle. Evansville scored two runs in the fifth on a home run by Jen Stahlhut.

The Lady Bisons answered in the bottom of the fifth when Kellie Sirus hit a two-run homer, her sixth of the year.

In the sixth Evansville scored three runs, all on a home run by Ashley Rahming for a 6-3 lead.

The Lady Bisons got a solo home run from Abby Keese in the seventh, her seventh of the season. She leads the Atlantic Sun in home runs.

“I didn’t think we did a bad job offensively,” Ryman said. “We have been such a strong offensive team that people take for granted that we should have 11 hits a game."

“We gave up a couple of crucial hits at the wrong moments. We didn’t get some key hits at the right moments.”