BROWNWOOD, TX (03.15.15) - After having to hold off Howard Payne in the first game, 4-3, the UT Dallas softball team routed the Lady Jackets, 8-0, in five innings in the night cap to sweep HPU in American Southwest Conference play.
The Comets (now 9-3, 5-3 ASC) extended its winning streak to seven games, two shy of the school record, and returns home tomorrow to open a three-game ASC series with Hardin-Simmons. UTD and the Cowgirls will open play with a 4 p.m. doubleheader Monday before completing series with an 11 a.m. single game Tuesday.
GAME 1 - UTD 4, HPU 3The Comets took early control of the contest, scoring a run in the 1st and tacking on two more in the 3rd to grab a quick 3-0 lead.
Aly Hudec picked up the first two RBI of the game, collecting run-scoring singles in both the 1st and 3rd to stake UTD to a 2-0 lead. The Comets scored their second run of the 3rd when
Taylor Ervin came home on a
Jessica Ramos ground ball.
The host Lady Jackets (now 6-10, 2-8 ASC) got a solo home run from Erin McLeod in the 4th to start a rally and drew within a run, 3-2, in the 4th with an RBI single by Cherita George. However, UTD plated an insurance run in the 6th on a single by
Jonelle Feikis, scoring Stephanie Polderman. HPU scored one run in the bottom of the 6th and had the game-trying run on third before
Megan Aragones picked up her second save of the season.
Sara Davison (5-1) continued her strong start to the season with 5.0 innings of work, giving up three runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Aragones took the circle in the 6th and tossed two scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
Avery McHugh went 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored from the leadoff spot while Feikis was 2-for-3 and Hudec was 2-for-4.
GAME 2 - UTD 8, HPU 0 (5 inn.)UTD scored in each of the first four innings en route to an 8-0, five-inning win over the Lady Jackets in the night cap.
The Comets opened the scoring with a two-run single by Feikis in the 1st, scoring McHugh and
Chelsea Sartor. UTD then added three runs in the 2nd on back-to-back RBI hits by Sartor and Hudec. Sartor's team-leading second triple of the season brought home
Morgan Anderson and McHugh before Hudec's single plated Sartor to lift the Comets to a quick 5-0 advantage.
In the 3rd, UTD used three singles to plate two more runs. After a leadoff single by Feikis and a sac bunt by
Taylor Jensen,
Jordan Bratcher used an infield single to set up a two-run hit by
Margeaux Petrash. The Comets scored their final run in the 4th after two HPU errors. McHugh opened the frame reaching on a Lady Jacket throwing error and later scored on a Sartor sac bunt followed by a second miscue.
Lauren McLeod (4-2) earned the victory after giving up just two hits in 4.0 innings of work. McLeod struck out four without issuing a walk.
Taylor Nabors tossed a scoreless fifth, allowing one hit. Feikis was 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored to lead four Comets with multiple hits. Sartor was 2-for-2 while McHugh and Bratcher were each 2-for-3.
