RICHARDSON, TX (04.01.16) - After erupting for 13 runs on 15 hits in the series opener, the UT Dallas softball team finished Friday's home doubleheader with a split with Howard Payne. The Comets took the opener, 13-1, in five innings, before falling to the Lady Jackets, 2-1, in eight innings in the late game.

The Comets (now 14-16, 10-10 ASC) will look to move back over .500 in American Southwest Conference play Saturday when they close the three-game series with HPU with a 12 p.m. single game at the UTD Softball Field.

Game 1 - UTD 13, HPU 1 (5 inn.)
The Comets got home runs from Sara Navarro and Brittany Perkins as UTD exploded for 13-1 victory over the Lady Jackets to kick off the three-game home set Friday afternoon.

UTD used a six-run 2nd and a five-run 3rd en route to their fourth run-rule victory of the season. Lauren McLeod picked up the win in the circle, giving up one run on two hits in a 3.0 innings of work while Aly Hudec went 3-for-3 with four RBI and three runs scored.

The Comets a quick 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the 1st inning as Hudec and Navarro each picked up RBI singles. Navarro's three-run home run in the 2nd frame, her first of the season, ignited the Comets to a six-run inning as UTD secured an early 8-0 advantage. The Comets opened the scoring in the 2nd on an HPU throwing error, allowing Heather Gilbert to score after a Ravin Wilson single. Melissa Livermore then plated Wilson with a single up the middle, giving UTD a 4-0 lead. Livermore later came home on a Hudec single before Navarro's big hit.

Gilbert would open the Comets' 3rd with a single to left and quickly scored on a Wilson double. Two batters later, Hudec picked up her third and fourth RBI of the game with a single up the middle. After an HPU pitching change, Perkins belted her team-leading fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the Comets a 13-0 cushion. The Lady Jackets scored their only run of the contest with a solo run by Celina Ortiz to lead off the 4th.

Navarro was 2-for-2 with four RBI while Livermore finished the contest 2-for-3 with three runs scored and three stolen bases.

Game 2 - HPU 2, UTD 1 (8 inn.)
After a lop-sided victory in the opener, the Comets' luck ran out in Friday's late game as Howard Payne rallied for a 2-1 victory in eight innings.

The Comets snagged an early 1-0 lead in the 3rd frame as Livermore and Wilson collected back-to-back doubles. That seemed to be all the offense McLeod needed for her second victory of the afternoon before the Lady Jackets mounted their late comeback, scoring both runs with two outs. HPU knotted the game in the top of the 7th as they pushed an unearned run across with a two-out, bases-loaded infield single by Rachel Hitt. The Lady Jackets then scored the game-winning run in the 8th with a two-out single through the left side of the Comet infield by Haley Slater.

Livermore finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and a steal as she is currently flirting with the UTD single-season batting average record, currently hitting an ASC-best .495. Kendall Moore finished the game 2-for-2.