AUSTIN, Texas – Fans got their money's worth in the Heartland Conference opening series between Lubbock Christian and St. Edward's this weekend. The series finale was no different from the first two games, as the Lady Chaps scratched out a 3-1 victory over the Hilltoppers Saturday afternoon at Diane Daniels Field.
Lubbock Christian (17-7, 1-2 HC) opened the scoring in the first inning as Sammie Murrietta laced a one-out home run over the left field wall for a 1-0 lead.
St. Edward's (12-7, 2-1 HC) knotted the score in the third inning when
KACI OLSON led off the inning with a double over the leftfielder's head. She also advanced to third as the throw back in got away from the Lady Chaps.
MEGAN HOFFMAN drove in Olson on a perfectly place pop up between the second baseman and right fielder for double. The Hilltoppers had runners on first and third, but couldn't take the lead as the Lady Chaps worked out of the jam.
Lubbock Christian's Morgan Colburn hit her third home run of the series to lead off the fourth inning to give the visitors a 2-1 lead and chase Hilltopper starting pitcher
ASHLEE REX from the game.
The Lady Chaps added another run in the fifth inning for their third and final run. In the final three innings, St. Edward's got a single from Hoffman but that was all the offense could muster.
Rex (3-3) got the loss after allowing two runs on two hits, while striking out two in 3.0 innings of work.
NICOLE PARNELL had the only other hit for the Hilltoppers as Katera Eltsosie (10-3) picked up the win for the Lady Chaps.
"Even though we didn't end up on the winning side of the game today, I'm very proud of the progress our team as a whole has made," head coach Lindsay Gardner said. "This is a very special group of players who love the game and love each other. We will continue to learn from mistakes and celebrate all of the small things that go into making a championship team."
The Hilltoppers will be back in action Sunday when they travel to take on Texas Woman's in Denton, Texas. The doubleheader is set to begin at 1 p.m. Live video and stats will be available on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.
