Sunday, March 28, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Lipscomb’s Whitney Kiihnl proved to be a double threat winning game one with her pitching and helping to win game two with her bat against USC Upstate.

In what was billed as the pitching duel of the early season between two of the top pitchers in the Atlantic Sun, as well as the nation, Kiihnl prevailed 4-0 over USC Upstate’s Morgan Childers. In game two Kiihnl, serving as designated player, led with three hits and three runs batted in, both game highs as the Lady Bisons won 6-1.

“Upstate brings a lot of challenges,” Lady Bisons coach Kristin Ryman said. “The top of their order is as good as anybody in our league.

“We beat her but I will still say that Morgan Childers is one of the best pitchers in our league. They play the way it is supposed to be played. They play hard. They get after it. They don’t run their mouths. I love playing competitors like that. They challenged us from the first pitch to the last.”

Kiihnl entered the weekend ranked No. 1 nationally in the NCAA in hits allowed per seven innings (1.89). Childers was second with 2.15. Childers opened the weekend first in strikeouts nationally with 13.5 per game. She was also second nationally in earned run average (0.42).

Kiihnl, 16-2, allowed five hits on and struck out eight on the way to her seventh shutout of the season and her eighth complete game. It was the second shutout of the weekend for Kiihnl who blanked ETSU 5-0 Friday night.

The Lady Bisons have 15 shutouts this season, two short of tying their program record of 17 set last season.

Childers gave up eight hits. All four runs were earned. She walked two and struck out seven. Her record is 17-3.

It was a pitcher’s duel until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Lady Bisons managed to score one run. Kellie Sirus was hit by a pitch to open the inning. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Billington. Christen Campbell walked. Mollie Mitchell drove a ground ball single through the left side to score Sirus.

“We both knew that we had to make something happen as early as we could in the game,” Ryman said. “We didn’t have a ton of hits, but we put some things together at the right time that really helped us get on the boards.”