Top Performances From College Softball March 22

Miranda Elish

The sophomore tossed her second career no-hitter, first at Texas, and sealed it with a walk-off grand slam to enforce the run-rule as No. 8 Texas earned an 11-0, five-inning win over Iowa State in Austin. She walked one and struck out eight. Elish has allowed just two hits and no runs over her last three appearances, spanning 14 innings. In addition to her first career grand slam, Elish also had a single and an RBI groundout on her way to a career-high five RBIs.

Georgina Corrick

The sophomore threw an extra-inning shutout with a career-high 16 strikeouts as USF beat Tulsa 4-0 in eight innings to open AAC play in Tampa. Corrick allowed five hits and no walks as the Bulls snapped Tulsa's seven-game winning streak. It's the third time Corrick has set a new career-high strikeout total in less than a month, having struck out 12 FGCU Eagles on Feb. 27 and then 14 Western Michigan Broncos on March 3. USF got the walk-off extra-inning win on the first career grand slam by Corrick's battery mate, senior catcher Macy Cook.

Missouri

Five players each drove in a pair of runs as the Tigers earned their third top-15 win in a week, rallying past No. 10 Kentucky 10-8 in a wild eight-inning game in Lexington. Freshman shortstop Jazmyn Rollin and sophomore third baseman Kim Wert each hit two-run homers as Mizzou tagged UK starter Autumn Humes for a career-high eight runs. Missouri became just the second team to score double-digit runs against the Wildcats this season. Sophomore righty Cassie Gasper entered in the sixth inning and threw 2.2 scoreless innings to get the win, snapping Kentucky's 12-game winning streak.

Taylor Johnson

The sophomore third baseman homered twice among her career-high four hits as No. 20 Wisconsin blasted past Illinois 15-6 to open Big Ten play in Champaign, Ill. Her second career multi-homer game came up a triple short of the cycle as she also scored a career-high four runs. The 15 runs scored by the Badgers is the most runs ever scored by a team in Wisconsin-Illinois series history.

Arizona State

The No. 21 Sun Devils pounded out double-digit runs for the third straight game against a Pac-12 opponent as they routed Utah 13-0 in five innings. Junior Samantha Mejia threw her first career complete-game shutout, allowing just one hit and striking out four Utes. Junior catcher Maddi Hackbarth hit her 12th and 13th home runs of the year as she has more than doubled her total from all of last season. ASU has now scored 43 runs in their past three games without playing a sixth inning, as they won the final two games against Oregon State 18-2 and 12-4, both in five innings.

Stacy Payton

The sophomore third baseman drove in a career-high five runs while reaching base in all four plate appearances as Ball State thumped Akron 14-6 in six innings in Muncie, Ind. Payton drove in at least one run every time she came to the plate. She hit a game-tying two-run homer in the first, then drew a go-ahead bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the second. An RBI-single in the third and an RBI-double in the fifth helped the Cardinals end their MAC opener early.

Ali Kilponen

The freshman entered in damage-control duty and ended up with the best outing of her career as No. 6 LSU stormed back from an early 4-1 deficit to knock off No. 17 Georgia 11-4 in Athens. After UGA tagged ace Shelby Wickersham for four runs, the Tigers brought in Kilponen with one out in the first inning for just her second appearance against an SEC foe. She ended up shutting out the high-powered Bulldog offense the rest of the way, scattering seven hits and four walks while fanning seven over 6.2 innings. She got a big boost from senior second baseman Shemiah Sanchez, who became the first player in LSU history with three grand slams in a single season with her go-ahead blast in the second. Sanchez gave the Tigers the lead for good with her fourth career grand slam, leaving her just one behind all-time leader Sahvanna Jaquish, and finished with a three-hit, five-RBI effort.

Wichita State

The Shockers started AAC play with a bang, slamming Houston 13-5 in five innings in Wichita. Junior catcher Madison Perrigan had a homer, a double, two walks, three RBIs and three runs, while junior first baseman Ryleigh Buck had a season-high three hits and scored twice. It ties the most runs scored by the Shockers this season (13-3 win at Louisiana Tech on Feb. 16). Even more impressively, it's the most runs an unranked team has scored against the Cougars in almost six years (Marshall won game one of a doubleheader 13-1 on April 6, 2013).

Meghan King

The senior lefty threw her second straight no-hitter as No. 4 Florida State blanked NC State 9-0 in five innings in Tallahassee. King walked two and struck out 11, including six straight early in the game. It's the third no-hitter in the last four games for the Seminoles, as King came a seventh-inning error short of a perfect game vs. Notre Dame last Sunday, while freshman Makinzy Herzog and sophomore Kara Bilodeau combined to hold Florida A&M hitless on Tuesday.

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