RICHARDSON, TX (04.19.19) – The UT Dallas softball team wrapped up the home portion of its regular season by take a 2-of-3 from Hardin-Simmons Friday afternoon in American Southwest Conference play.
The Comets (now 16-17, 12-14 ASC) opened the three-game set Thursday night but Mother Nature had other plans as UTD would take a 4-0 lead into the 5th inning before the contested was suspended until Friday.
Upon resumption of play, UTD would hold off the Cowgirls for a 4-0 win in the opener before splitting Friday's scheduled doubleheader. HSU outlasted the Comets, 12-10, to even the series before UTD took the series and closed the ASC slate with a 10-4 win in the finale.
The Comets will wrap up the regular season next weekend with a three-game non-conference series at Texas-Tyler, starting with a single game Friday at 6 p.m. in Tyler. The two teams will then close the regular season with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.
UTD has likely earned a spot in a fourth straight ASC Tournament, slated for May 1-3 in Marshall, but will not know for sure until next weekend after all league play has completed.
GAME 1 – UTD 4, HSU 0 (THURSDAY/FRIDAY)
Sophomore
BriAnna Young recorded her second shutout victory of the season as he tossed the Comets to a 4-0 win over Hardin-Simmons in a game that spanned two days.
Young scattered four hits while striking out two Cowgirls as she improved to 7-4 with the win in the opener. The Comets got all their offense before the suspension of play, plating a run each in the 2nd and 3rd frames before two final runs in the 4th.
The Comets opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by
Amy Jensen, scoring
Ravin Wilson. UTD doubled its leads the next frame on an
Amber Williams single to right, scoring
Melissa Livermore, then added two more runs on an
Elizabeth Brann single up the middle in the 4th before the rains came.
Livermore was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base from the lead-off spot while Brann was also 2-for-3 with two RBI.
GAME 2 – HSU 12, HSU 10 (FRIDAY)
The visiting Cowgirls plated eight runs in the top of the 2nd and then held off a late rally by the Comets as UTD dropped a 12-20 decision in the second game of the series on Friday.
Down 8-0 in the 4th, the Comets gone on the score board with a single run and answered with nine more runs over the final three frames, but could not catch up with HSU.
UTD got its first run of the game with two outs in the 4th on a
Nicole Peters single up the middle, scoring Wilson, and added two more runs in the 5th on back-to-back doubles by
Jessica Vlasek and Williams, followed by a Cowgirl error.
After giving all three runs back the HSU in the top of the 6th, the Comets all nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the frame, scoring five runs on a pair of long balls. Vlasek launched a three-run shot to deep center and Wilson followed with a two-run shot two batters later with a homer to right center.
Trailing 12-8 heading to their final at bat, the Comets plated two final runs in the bottom of the 7th on a Vlasek single.
Vlasek finished the game going 3-for-5 with five RBI and two runs scored while five other Comets recorded multi-hit performances in the defeat.
GAME 3 – UTD 10, HSU 4 (FRIDAY)
The Comets jumped out to a big lead early and added a late grand slam by Williams to steal a 10-4 victory over HSU and take the weekend series.
UTD used back-to-back RBI singles by Brann and Livermore in the 2nd to grab a 2-0 lead, but gave a run back in the top of the 3rd. UTD then pushed four runs across in the bottom of the 3rd to take a 6-1 lead. After a bases-loaded walks by both Peters and Brann, the Comets would add two more runs on a Livermore single to left.
HSU got two more runs back in the top of the 5th to cut the Comet lead to 6-3, but Williams launched her second grand slam of the season with one out in the 6th lift UTD to the win.
Livermore was 4-for-4 with three RBI and a steal from the lead-off spot while Williams finished 2-for-4 with four RBI.
Nicole Vasicek (5-6) picked up the win in the circle, giving up two earned runs on seven scattered hits with one strikeout.
Blaire Evans collected her first save of the season with a 2.2-inning performance in relief.