Sunday, May 3, 2015
Texas State Softball Sweeps UT Arlington To Conclude Regular Season
ARLINGTON, Texas – A pair of home runs by Ariel Ortiz, the Top 25 NFCA National Freshman of the Year finalist, led the Texas State softball team to an 11-2 victory over UT Arlington Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Bobcats have clinched the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament scheduled to begin Wednesday morning.
Texas State will await the winner of the No. 6 UL Monroe and No. 7 UT Arlington game to play in the 5:30 p.m. contest. The Bobcats finished the 2015 regular season with a 32-20 overall record and 14-6 mark in just their second season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.
Freshman pitcher Randi Rupp earned her 24th victory of the season Sunday afternoon while sophomore pitcher Kaylee Garner picked up her first save of the season in two innings of work. The two combined to allow just three hits while striking out three.
For the third consecutive game, the Bobcats put up a number in the top of the first inning. With one out, Ariel Ortiz singled to third base and immediately moved to third on a double down the left field line by senior Courtney Harris. A ground out by Kortney Koroll would score Ortiz for the first Bobcat run of the day.
Promptly in the bottom half of the first, UT Arlington scored its first and only runs of the series on a two-run homer by Mya Anderson. Anderson scored Sandra Mendoza who led the inning off with a walk.
After three scoreless innings for both teams, the Bobcat bats opened up in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Kelli Baker got on with a six pitch walk to ignite the Texas State. Ortiz followed Baker’s walk with her first home run of the day and to put Texas State back on top, 3-2.
The Bobcats continued to keep the bats rolling in the fifth as they strung together two more hits along with capitalizing on a Maverick error to score two more to take a 5-2 lead over UTA.
The momentum from the fifth carried its way to the sixth as seven hits, including Ortiz’s second home run of the day, turned into six runs and an 11-2 lead over the Mavericks. Baker, Ortiz, Lexi Fryar, Katie Doerre, Taylor Webb, Kendall Wiley, and Kimberlin Naivar all notched a hit in the top half of the sixth. Twelve Bobcats stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning.
Ortiz finished the afternoon with a team-high three hits and career-high five RBIs. Wiley finished with two hits and 10 total Bobcats recorded a hit on the day.
With Ortiz’s two home runs, the 2015 Bobcats have tied the program-high of 59 home runs set back in 2003.
Texas State will now return home as it hosts the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Bobcat Softball Stadium. For information regarding the upcoming tournament including the complete championship bracket, fans can go to www.sunbeltsports.org.'
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Cajuns Close Regular Season Completing Sweep of ULM
MONROE – The No. 10 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball team completed a three-game Sun Belt Conference sweep of ULM here Sunday at the ULM Softball Complex with a 9-2 victory in the 2015 regular season finale.
Samantha Walsh posted a four-hit day, finishing 4-for-4 at the plate, and scored three runs. Kelsey Vincent (four) and Shellie Landry (three) combined for seven RBI.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (37-8, 20-3 Sun Belt) begin postseason play in San Marcos, Texas, at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament being held Wednesday-Saturday, May 6-9 at Bobcat Softball Stadium at Texas State University. Louisiana, the No. 1 seed in the event, has earned a bye in the quarterfinal round and will begin play on Thursday, May 7 at 5 p.m., against an opponent to be determined.
Christina Hamilton (10-2) started for Louisiana and limited ULM to one run and three hits in four innings of work. Hamilton, a senior, concluded her collegiate career undefeated in her final 21 Sun Belt Conference regular season starts.
Jordan Wallace, a fellow senior pitcher, hurled the softball for the final three innings of the contest allowing a single hit and striking out six. Wallace’s first strikeout after entering the game in the bottom of the fifth inning was career strikeout No. 863 which moved her past Ashley Brignac for second place.
A run which scored on a wild pitch was the only blemish on Wallace’s appearance which landed the Weatherford, Texas, native her second save of the season.
The Cajuns made the Warhawks (28-20, 10-12 Sun Belt) pay for free passes in the first inning to claim an early lead. Haley Hayden led off with a walk, and then with two outs Walsh was hit by a pitch from starting pitcher Melanie Coyne. Vincent doubled to bring them home and then scored on a Leandra Maly double down the right field line for a 3-0 lead.
ULM responded with a run in the bottom of the first netting a run on a two-out, RBI single from Faith Bohack to trim the Cajuns lead to 3-1.
Louisiana answered and stretched the lead in the second inning. A three-run home run by Landry, set up by a hit by pitch of Aleah Craighton and Kelli Martinez walk, pushed the advantage to 6-1. Back-to-back, two-out singles from Walsh and Vincent resulted in another run.
A pair of defensive plays by Landry prevented ULM from answering again. She made a diving catch on a shallow fly ball off the bat of Mackenzie Miller with pinch runner Kaitlyn Dupuis at second base, then threw out Dupuis attempting to score on a single by Navarrete.
After a scoreless third inning from both sides, Walsh started the fourth inning with a solo home run that upped the lead to 8-1. The Warhawks escaped further damage as Vanessa Garcia grabbed a bases-loaded grounder off the bat of Hayden and stepped on the third base bag for the final out.
The teams traded a single run over the final three innings with the Warhawks scoring on a Wallace wild pitch in the fifth inning and the Cajuns netting a run on a Vincent sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.
With the win Louisiana improved to 99-27 in the all-time series with ULM. The Cajuns swept the Sun Belt series from the Warhawks for the third straight season and improved to 21-5 against their in-state foes in SBC games.
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Troy Softball Drops Series Finale Against No. 22 South Alabama on Senior Day
TROY, Alabama – The Troy softball team dropped the series finale against No. 22 South Alabama, 4-1, on Sunday at the Troy Softball Complex as four Trojan seniors were honored before the game.
Troy (32-22, 14-9 Sun Belt) had plenty of chances when down 3-1 and left two runners on base in two consecutive innings. The Trojans had runners at second and third in the fifth inning with two outs, but a pop out to second base by Ashley Rainey ended the scoring threat.
Kate Benton, who went 4-for-4 in the game, singled to third base in the first inning and came all the way around the horn to score due to an error by Emily Messer, the Jaguar third baseman, for the Trojans only run of the game.
South Alabama (35-10, 16-4 Sun Belt) took the lead in a tie game in the fourth inning as Gwen Jones scored on a Haleigh Lowe groundout to second base to give the Jaguars a 2-1 lead. Another run scored in the inning as Messer had an infield RBI single to give the Jaguars a 3-1 advantage.
The Jaguars scored one more run in the sixth inning on a fielder's choice to the shortstop, to take a 4-1 lead.
The Trojans had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out, but Hannah Day flied into a double play to end the game.
Jaycee Affeldt (17-10) suffered the loss for Troy as she struck out five and pitched all seven innings.
Khadija Neely was the only other Trojan, aside from Benton, who had a multi-hit performance as she went 2-for-3. Becca Hartley, Rainey and Day all had a hit each.
Troy will be back in action on Wednesday in San Marcos, Texas for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Trojans take the four seed in the tournament and will play the winner of the number eight seed and number five seed at 5:30 p.m.
For more information on Troy softball visit TroyTrojans.com or follow us on Twitter at @TroyTrojansSB.