ALPINE, TX (02.10.17) - The UT Dallas softball team extended its best-ever start to a season but was then handed its first loss Friday afternoon as the Comets split a doubleheader at Sul Ross State to kick off American Southwest Conference play. UTD took Friday's opener, 9-3, before falling to the Lobos, 4-0, in the second game.
The Comets (5-1, 1-1 ASC) and Lobos return to the field Saturday for a 12 p.m. twin bill to close the four-game weekend series.
GAME 1 - UTD 9, SRSU 3
The Comets picked up their fifth straight win to open the new year and tied a school record in the process as they earned a 9-3 win over Sul Ross State to kick off the weekend set.
Ravin Wilson finished Friday's opener 2-for-4 from the plate with her second triple of the season and three RBI while
Heather Gilbert was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
Brittany Perkins picked up two RBI on sacrifice flies.
UTD opened the scoring the 1st when
Melissa Livermore led off the game with a bunt single, stole second and third, and came home on a Perkins sac fly. But, the host Lobos countered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 2-1 lead. Wilson gave the Comets back the lead in the 2nd, however, with a two-run double, scoring
Kendall Moore and Gilbert.
After SRSU knotted the game, 3-3, in the 3rd, the Comets took the lead for good in the top of the 4th on Wilson's triple, scoring Gilbert again. UTD then scored four runs on five hits, including a pair of three-baggers, to pull away in the 5th. Freshman
Elizabeth Brann and
Kendra Litchfield each had a triple as the Comets recorded their second-ever three triple game. UTD also had three triples at the University of Dallas during the 2015 season. The Comets added a final run in the 7th on a SRSU error.
Lauren McLeod (3-0) scattered seven hits while giving up three earned runs with four strikeouts in the circle for the Comets.
GAME 2 - SRSU 4, UTD 0
The host Lobos (2-2, 1-1 ASC) plated three runs in the 1st inning and added an insurance run in the 2nd to account for all of the scoring in Friday's second game, a 4-0 win by SRSU.
The Comets managed just six hits off of SRSU starter Bailey Garrett with Wilson leading the offense by going 2-for-2 from the plate with a double.
UTD got a runner to second base in both the 1st and 2nd frame, but could not get a run-scoring hit in either inning. Wilson then led off the Comets' half of the 3rd with a double, her fifth extra-base hit in six games to start the season and advanced to third on a wild pitch. However, she would be stranded 60 feet away. UTD would get a runner to second base in each of the first five innings.
Sara Davison (1-1) suffered the loss after giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits and three walks.
Allie Stephens tossed the final four scoreless innings, recording four strikeouts.
