Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
TAMPA, Fla. — Wichita State scored four of its five runs on one swing of the bat in a 5-3 win at South Florida Friday night in the series opener.
Wichita State (19-15, 10-6) finished with just five hits on the night, none bigger than CC Wong's grand slam. The home run was her 12th and second grand slam of the season.
Lainee Brown broke out of a slump with a pair of singles. Addison Barnard and Krystin Nelson recorded the only other hits on the night, while Nelson added an RBI.
Alison Cooper (5-5) was solid through 5.0 innings in the start. She allowed only two earned runs on seven hits and three walks. Lauren Howell recorded a two-inning save, allowing just one hit to go with a strikeout and a walk.
After three scoreless innings Wichita State finally broke through in the top of the fourth. With the bases loaded, Nelson dropped a bloop single into left to make it 1-0. The very next batter, Wong, delivered a monster grand slam over the wall in center to give the Shockers a 5-0 lead.
The Bulls broke up the shutout in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single with the bases loaded, but Cooper limited the damage to just a single run.
South Florida crept closer in the sixth on a two-run double, cutting the lead to 5-3.
Howell allowed just one baserunner in the bottom of the seventh on a walk, but retired the next hitter to end the game.
Wichita State and South Florida take the field for Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
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