MARSHALL, Texas – Starting off the season with five straight wins at Taylor Field, the #21 East Texas Baptist University softball heads out for their first road trip of the season. They will drive across the state of Texas to Alpine for three games against Sul Ross State University in American Southwest Conference play.
After beginning their season with a 4-1 win against Centenary College, the Tigers swept two doubleheaders against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Pacific University. ETBU picked up two comeback wins over UMHB by scores of 6-5 and 8-5. In game one's 6-5 win,
Emily Deramus led the way with four RBI while reliever
Savannah Buhl earned a victory with 4.1 innings pitched allowing two runs on five hits. Game two's 8-5 victory was propelled by two homers from
Daniella Solis while she and
MacKenzie Anderson (HR) posted three RBI.
Beatriz Lara went the whole distance by striking out six batters for the win.
ETBU then followed up with a hard-fought 10-9 win against PU in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Solis and
Mariah Delgado (two RBI) picked up three hits each while
Preslye Cox earned the win with 4.1 innings allowing five runs on five hits. Game two was 6-1 in ETBU's favor with Deramus having two hits while MacKenzie Oltmann collected a two-run homer in her first at-bat of the season. Lara, who picked up the save in game one, picked up her third straight complete game win with one run on three hits and six more strikeouts.
With five home games out of the way, it's time for ETBU to hit the road with a long ten-hour bus trip to Alpine to take on the Lobos. SRSU is 2-0 on the season following a sweep of the University of Southwest. They are led by Hailey Guillen, who posts a .800 batting average with four hits while Abbie Alvarado and Rebecca Rodriguez collected two RBI each from their first series. Starting pitcher Jodie Vaughn pitched a complete game shutout in her first start with seven strikeouts while Annie Alvarado comes into the series with a 4.35 ERA after eight innings of work.
It's been two seasons since the Tigers last took on the Lobos in 2017, when they swept SRSU at home. While much of the players have yet to experience the trip to Alpine, head coach
Janae Shirley feels that adjustments needed would be the least of her team's worries. "We have a large group of freshmen this year and this will be their first road trip," said Coach Shirley. "It's an opportunity for us to get to know each other a little bit better and bond. We will be stopping in Midland to go practice for a little bit and just moving around. This team showed, especially with the conditions on Saturday, that they can adjust to what's going on."
Friday's doubleheader will take place at 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM while Saturday will start at 12:00 PM.
