ABILENE, TX (04.06.18) - The UT Dallas softball team returned to action Friday afternoon as the Comets swept a doubleheader with Hardin-Simmons to open a three-game American Southwest Conference series.
The Comets (16-11, 12-5 ASC) opened the day with a 13-1, six-inning win over HSU and followed up with a 8-0 victory over the Cowgirls, also in six innings, in game two. The series finale between the two teams is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday.
GAME 1 - UTD 13, HSU 1 (6 inn.)
The Comets used a six-run 6th frame to secure a 13-1 run-rule victory over HSU to kick of the weekend set.
UTD opened the scoring with three runs in the top of the 1st and would grab a 6-0 lead by the 3rd inning. Leading 7-1 after five innings, the Comets would completed the win with six runs on five hits in the 6th.
Karen Crane (10-4) earned the victory, giving up one unearned run on just three hits with one strikeout.
Blaire Evans took over for a scoreless 6th inning.
The Comets' first run of the day came with two outs in the 1st when
Samantha Halliburton plated
Ravin Wilson with a single to centerfield.
Amber Williams then lifted UTD to a 3-0 advantage with her third home run of the season.
UTD added one run in the 2nd on a
Elizabeth Brann sacrifice fly and then plated two runs in the 3rd on a bases-loaded single up the middle by
Melissa Livermore.
The Comets then took a 7-0 lead in the 5th on a sacrifice fly by Wilson in the 5th before giving up an unearned run in the bottom of the inning. UTD then sent 10 batters to the plate in the 6th as four different Comets collected RBI in the frame.
UTD finished with 13 hits, two shy of its season high, with
Emily Schroeder and
Kynsee Gesch each going 2-for-3. Livermore was 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.
GAME 2 - UTD 3, HSU 0
Allie Stephens recorded her first shutout of the season in the second game of the day as she struck out a season-high seven batters in the Comets' 8-0, six-inning victory over HSU.
The Comets opened the game two scoring in the top of the 3rd with a single by Halliburton, scoring Livermore. UTD then loaded the bases with one out in the 5th before doubling its lead with a walk drawn by Halliburton, again scoring Livermore. The Comets added a sacrifice fly by Williams later in the 5th, scoring Wilson.
UTD got a bases-loaded single from Wilson in the 6th, scoring
Hope Griffith, before Halliburton collected her third and fourth RBI of the contest with a double to centerfield, scoring Livermore and Wilson. Two batters later, again with the bases loaded, the Comets added two more runs on a double by Schroeder, scoring Brann and Halliburton.
Stephens (5-4) gave up just three hits and walked two in the victory. Livermore finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored from the lead-off spot while Wilson and Halliburton each went 2-for-3.
