MARSHALL, Texas – With their best start in program history happening, the #6 East Texas Baptist University softball team will resume their season this weekend at home against the University of Texas Dallas. The American Southwest Conference series will start on Friday night with a double header at 5:00 p.m. and the play one game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
This past Saturday, ETBU split their series with Texas Lutheran winning game one, 1-0, for their 20th straight win.
MacKenzie Anderson had two hits and the only RBI in the game while
Beatriz Lara collected her 12
th win. ETBU's streak was halted in the next game as they fell 9-1. Anderson,
Nikki Gil, and
Emily Deramus had two hits each while
Kaitlin Hunter was responsible for the only RBI in the game.
Preslye Cox wound up with the loss with three runs on three hits while striking out three.
The loss against TLU does have a silver lining for the Tigers as head coach
Janae Shirley explains. "I think those games came at a great time in our season," said Coach Shirley. "The past couple of weekends, we had managed to come out of the series with wins and not really playing our best ball. Facing Texas Lutheran, who is a quality team across the board in the circle, offensively, and defensively, gave us a good test. The first game, we played well, but there were still some things we need to work on and get better at. That next game just proved how you have to continue to push, fight, get better, and be sharp. If you don't do the little things right, you're not going to win against a great team. I think that was a great reminder for us at a pivotal point in our season."
Now 20-1 on the season, ETBU has tallied 131 runs while holding opponents to 45.
Hannah Garcia (.417 BA),
Daniella Solis (.403 BA, 25 hits, 15 RBI, six homers), and Deramus (.400 BA) currently have batting averages over .400 while Anderson leads in RBI (19) and homers (seven). Lara has a 0.88 ERA having thrown seven shutouts allowing 12 runs on 45 hits from the circle to go with 80 strikeouts.
This weekend will see ETBU take on Texas Dallas. Last season brought ETBU three wins against the Comets in Richardson. At 11-8 overall and 7-7 in the conference, UTD is in the midst of a four-game winning streak after sweeping Howard Payne University last week. Melissa Livermore, who recently became the NCAA DIII's all-time steals leader, has 24 steals this season. She is also the team's leader in batting average (.500) and has 28 hits. Hope Griffith has a team-leading 20 RBI while both Ravin Wilson and Amber Williams have five homers apiece. BriAnna Young leads all pitchers with four wins to go with a 3.56 ERA in which she has allowed 16 runs (10 earned) on 26 hits.
ETBU starts the series with a doubleheader on Friday at 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Saturday will conclude this weekend at 1:00 PM.
