Burk’s Walk-Off Homerun In The 11^th Inning Lifts Lady Railsplitters To Double Header Sweep Of Union College

HARROGATE, TN – Playing in the final home game of her career at Lincoln Memorial University, Lady Railsplitter senior Alisa Burk (Blaine, WA) hit a walk-off blast in the bottom of the eleventh inning of Thursday night’s non-conference double header with Union College to give the Lady Railsplitters an 8-7 win.  The victory came only a short time after LMU started off the night with an 8-4 victory over the Lady Bulldogs.

The Lady Railsplitters got going quickly in the first game when sophomore sensation Sara Henn (Kettering, OH) put LMU ahead on a two-run blast in the bottom of the first inning.  The Lady Splitters didn’t score again until the bottom of the second when sophomore Jessica Locker (Tipp City, OH) hit her third homerun of the year on a solo shot over the left center to give LMU a 3-0 margin.

In the third inning, Lady Railsplitter Ashley Knight (Palm Harbor, FL) laced an RBI single through the left side to score teammate Sara Henn and LMU took commanding 4-0 advantage into the fourth inning.

Henn’s sacrifice fly to right field in the fourth scored teammate Alicia McIntyre (Muncie, IN), and LMU carried the 5-0 advantage into the fifth inning, seeming to be unstoppable.  However, in the Lady Bulldogs fifth at-bat, things started to get interesting as Union managed to get the bats going and to get some breaks in the game. 

The Lady Bulldogs' Sarah Driver led the inning off with a single up the middle and later scored on another single up the middle by teammate Lee Davis.  Union’s Ashleigh Mensch then singled to left field and picked up the RBI, while Brittany Outland also singled up the middle later in the inning recording two runs batted in.  With the score now 5-4, it was anybody’s ballgame.

While LMU went scoreless in the bottom of the fifth inning, in the top of the sixth the Lady Railsplitters Jackie Adams (Columbus, OH) hit an RBI triple to center field and then later scored on a single by senior Amanda Wampler (Powell, TN).  Henn then singled up the middle to score Wampler and LMU came away with the 8-4 win after shutting the door in the seventh inning. 

LMU’s Jessica Locker picked up the win, improving to 10-3 on the year.  Locker pitched 4.1 innings, giving up 12 hits, four runs and four earned runs with no walks and three strikeouts.  Senior Amanda Wampler came in and closed the door over the final 2.2 inning of work and picked up the save.  Wampler allowed just one hit and no damage in her time in the circle.

Game two saw Union jump on top in the first inning 1-0 on a fielding error by the Lady Railsplitters.  In the third inning, the Lady Bulldogs added to their lead when Lee Davis singled up the middle, and then Mallory Lavoy singled to score teammate Ryan Travis, giving Union a 3-0 lead.

With things looking bleak and after holding Union in check through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, LMU finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning when Jackie Adams singled up the middle, scoring teammate Mira McPeek (Westerville, OH).  Later in the inning, Wampler singled to right field scoring Adams and Knight to tie the game at 3-3.  From that point, it was an all out war at the plate with both teams giving as good as they got into the eleventh inning.

Finally after trading blows with Union in the ninth inning with both teams picking up two runs each and Union pressing ahead in the top of the eleventh on a sacrifice fly by Driver and an error by LMU, LMU’s Wampler singled up the middle to score McIntyre.  With LMU now trailing by only one run, senior Alisa Burk found herself at the plate having gone only 1-for-5 in the game.  So, with fellow senior Amanda Wampler on first, Burk stepped up to the plate and smashed a two run bomb over the left centerfield fence to give the Lady Railsplitters an emotional 8-7, extra innings, come-from-behind victory.

While it was Sarah Henn that got the start, it was again Jessica Locker that picked up the win to improve to 11-3 on the year.  Union’s Michelle Geyman who pitched on two thirds of an inning of work got the loss.