Kansas picked up its first win of the year with a 12-6 victory over North Carolina State but fell to No. 12 Arizona 15-2 at Hillenbrand Stadium in Arizona. Against NC State, the Jayhawks were led by junior first baseman Savanna DesRochers and sophomore utility player Olivia Bruno.
DesRchoers went 3-for-3 at the plate, including a double in the fourth inning. Bruno did the most damage at the plate with three RBIs on two hits. Both of Bruno's hits in the game were home runs with one coming in the first inning and the second coming in the third inning.
As a team, the Jayhawks were able to total their 12 runs on 10 hits while only striking out six times. On the defensive side, Kansas used two pitchers en route to its first win of the year.
Junior RHP Addison Purvis picked up the win, going 3.2 innings while allowing four earned runs and two unearned runs along the way.
Freshman right-hand pitcher Lizzy Ludwig also pitched in the game for the Jayhawks. Ludwig tallied 3.1 innings and allowed no runs or hits. Ludwig also recorded three strikeouts along the way.
The Jayhawks were not as fortunate in their second game of the day against Arizona. The No. 12 ranked Wildcats stayed undefeated in their 15-2 stomp over Kansas. The Jayhawks could not get anything going offensively as they were only able to tally two hits in the game.
Senior center fielder Shayna Espy was the only player who was able to get the Jayhawks on the board. Espy's two-run homer in the third inning was the only two runs the Jayhawks scored all game.
The game was stopped after five innings due to the mercy rule. The Jayhawks' pitching staff gave up 15 runs during that time.
Sophomore pitcher Katie Brooks recorded the loss in this game, giving up six runs in 1.1 innings of work.
The rest of the staff was not much better with junior left-hand pitcher Kasey Hamilton and Ludwig both combining to give up eight more runs of their own.
The Jayhawks will continue the Candrea Classic on Feb. 11 at 10:30 a.m. where they will take on Long Beach State for the second time this year. That game can be watched on the FloSports website.
