Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MARSHALL, Texas – In a very close top-25 series, the East Texas Baptist University softball team closed out two huge wins over Louisiana College to move into second place in the American Southwest Conference standings. ETBU won game one of the double header on a walk-off single from Shelby Irlbeck, and won game two 5-4 on a single from Jayme Perez that scored two runs.
GAME 1
ETBU waiting until the final inning to play hero, but hero they did play indeed as Shelby Irlbeck brought home Katy Hill for the game winning run, beating LC 1-0 in game one of the double header. In the bottom of the first inning, Lindsey Vasquez singled and promptly stole second base, making her ETBU's all-time leader in stolen bases with her 104th career stolen base.
Vasquez, Hill, Irlbeck, and Morgan Arst each recorded a hit in the game one win. Rocki Tello improves to 11-3 overall this season with a 7.0 inning complete game shutout. Tello allowed just three hits, and walked three batters, but held LC to 0 runs.
Shea Smith had two of the three hits for LC, followed by Alyssa Ross with one hit. Savannah Settle dropped to 14-5 this season, allowing one run on four hits.
GAME 2
Linzie Lewis scored off an LC error in the bottom of the first inning, giving ETBU a 1-0 lead. LC used two two-run homeruns in the second and third innings to grab a 4-1 lead over ETBU. Lewis singled home Vasquez, followed by a Kaitlyn Holligshead RBI single to cut into the LC lead 4-3. Perez brought home two runs on a single in the bottom of the fourth inning, one earned and one on an error from LC to give ETBU the 5-4 lead. Jordan Anderson got out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the fifth, and shutdown LC in the final two innings to secure the series sweep.
Vasquez, Lewis, Perez, and Hollingshead each had two hits in the win, followed by Arst and Irlbeck with one hit each. Lewis, Perez, and Hollingshead each had one RBI. Anderson pitched all seven innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, and struck out three LC batters. In the contest, Hill tied the ETBU record with her 37th hit by pitch.
Sami Walters had three hits to lead the Wildcats offensively, followed by five others with one hit each. Mattie Stine and Kourtney Herrera each hit a two-run homerun in the loss. Darian Thacker picked up her second loss of the season, dropping her to 5-2 overall. Thacker pitched 3.1 innings and allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits.
ETBU will return to action next Thursday and Friday against Sul Ross State University. ETBU and SRSU will play a double header on Thursday April 13th starting at 3:00 p.m. On Friday, the series will conclude with an 11:00 a.m. start time. The weekend series is moved up one day in advanced due to Easter Weekend.
