Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 LONGVIEW, TX (04.11.13) - A
Rachel Riley grand slam home run highlighted a nine-run inning in the first game of a Thursday night doubleheader, propelling the UT Dallas softball team to an 11-8 win over LeTourneau. LETU won the nightcap, 12-7, to salvage its only win in the four-game series this season.
The Game 1 win, however, assured UTD (16-13-1, 7-9) of a series victory (and potential tiebreaker) over LETU (20-14, 7-11). UTD, LeTourneau, Louisiana College and Mississippi College are all battling for the potential final two post-season berths out of the American Southwest Conference East Division as the regular season winds down.
UTD still has four-game series remaining with Louisiana and Mississippi Colleges with the Choctaws visiting campus for a four-game series this Saturday and Sunday. LETU still has two-game sets remaining with league leader UT Tyler, Mississippi College and Louisiana College. Only the top four teams in each division will advance to the ASC Championship Tournament April 25-27 in Farmers Branch.
GAME 1: UTD 11, LETU 8
Riley's first career grand slam, and just the fifth in program history, set the tone for UTD as the Comets rallied from an early 6-1 deficit by pounding out 10 hits and scoring nine times in the fifth inning on their way to the 11-8 win. UTD added another run in the sixth inning to further pad the lead and withstand a late two-run rally from LETU in its final at-bat.
After a three-hit start from Kelli Parton through the first four innings, the Yellowjackets went to their bench. Karen Kubacak faced just five batters without recording an out as five straight Comets singled, including three straight in the infield. With the bases loaded, Taylor Thibodeaux entered the game and got one out on a popup before Riley cleared the bases with a shot over the left field wall. Parton returned to the circle, but ran into trouble herself, giving up four more hits and allowing four more runs to score.
Robin Thomas,
Jordan Bratcher and Steph Harris all had two hits during the inning.
LETU scored in its first at-bat against
Jeni Olbeter (9-7) with an RBI double, but the Comets tied the score at 1-1 in the second with a two-out RBI single from
Jonelle Feikis, scoring
Hannah Creech.
In the LETU third, it looked like it would be the Comets who let things get out of hand. The Yellow Jackets pushed five runs across on four hits, a Comet error and two successful squeeze bunt plays to go up 6-1.
After its big inning, UTD got another run in the sixth when Creech was hit by a pitch with two outs and eventually scored on another Thomas RBI. LETU put together two singles and a 2-RBI double in the seventh inning in an attempt to rally late.
Eight of the nine Comet starters got at least one hit in the game. Thomas led the way, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored.
GAME 2: LETU 12, UTD 7
In the nightcap, it was the Yellowjackets who took advantage of a big inning, scoring eight runs in the second inning on their way to a 12-7 win.
UTD trailed LETU, 9-1 after just two innings, but continued to chip away at the lead throughout the rest of the night. LETU, however, kept answering Comet rallies and salvaged its lone win in the series.
Both teams scored their first runs on wild pitches in the first and second inning to start the game knotted at 1-1 before things came unraveled for the Comets in the LETU second inning. The Yellowjackets pieced together four hits, two walks, a hit batter and two UTD errors to push 8 runs across the board and force the Comets into “catch-up” mode the rest of the game.
UTD got two of the runs back in the third, cutting the lead to 9-3, when
Brittanie Knowles and
Avery McHugh reached with two outs and came home on a
Rachel Riley base hit. But LETU wasn't finished with pitcher
Jessie Richardson, who tried to bail out starter
Megan Aragones. Three of the first four hitters in the inning had base hits and UTD was down 11-3 going into the fifth.
Hannah Creech erased three runs off the deficit, bringing home
Taylor Ervin and Riley with a three-run home run, her first of the season. But LETU added a single run in its half of the inning and survived another Comet run in the sixth when McHugh brought home Knowles with the final run of the game.
The Comets touched LETU starter Kaylee Pritchett for 14 hits, but could not overcome the 14 hits, four walks and two errors it surrendered. Knowles, McHugh and Creech combined for 8 hits.
