MARSHALL, TX (03.24.12) - The UT Dallas softball team struggled at the plate, scoring just two runs on eight total hits, as the Comets dropped both ends of an American Southwest Conference East Division doubleheader Saturday afternoon at East Texas Baptist, 2-1 and 3-1.
The Comets (now 15-9, 3-7 ASC East) continue their 10-game road trip next weekend with a four-game series at Ozarks. The two teams will play a 2 p.m. doubleheader Friday and a noon twin bill Saturday.
GAME 1 - ETBU 2, UTD 1 (BOX SCORE)
The Comets managed just three hits, all three in the 6th, as UTD opened the twin bill at ETBU with a 2-1 loss.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the 4th on a one-out error that allowed ETBU's Kelly Shelton to score from third base. UTD had its best chance to win the game in the sixth, collecting three hits, but leaving two runners on base after scoring just one run.
Megan Aragones opened the frame with a single up the middle and advanced to third on an error by ETBU centerfielder Ashton Brey. Two batters later,
Hannah Creech singled in
Jordan Bratcher, who was pinch-running for Aragones, with a shot to right.
Kayla Moore followed Creech's hit with an infield single, but the Comets could not get another run past second base.
ETBU earned the 2-1 win in the bottom of the 7th after Lyn Swaner reached on a one-out error and scored two batters later on a single by Alyssa Romero.
Heather Foust (11-2), NCAA Division III's win leader, was handed just her second loss of the season, giving up two unearned runs on six hits in 6.1 innings of work. Creech finished the game 1-for-3 with an RBI.
GAME 2 - ETBU 3, UTD 1 (BOX SCORE)
In the late game, the Tigers (now 13-5, 6-2 ASC East) struck first again, this time with two runs in the 3rd and never allowed UTD to knot the game. The Comets managed five hits in the night cap, but had just one runner past second base in the game.
ETBU got two runs on three hits in the 3rd, collecting RBI singles from Beck Young and Kayla Garcia.
Brittanie Knowles cut the deficit in half in the 4th as she blasted her second home run of the season, a solo shot to left-center field, but the Tigers added an insurance run in the 5th on a Kristina Cordova single to seal the sweep.
Jeni Olbeter (1-3) was handed the loss, giving up one run on three hits in 2.0 innings of work.
Micah Starkey took over for Olbeter after the lead-off hitter in the 3rd and finished the game for the Comets, allowing two runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts. Harris was the only UTD player with multiple hits, going 2-for-3. Knowles finished 1-for-3.
