TYLER, Texas – St. Edward's softball dropped both games in the doubleheader against the defending Lone Star Conference Champion and No. 6-ranked UT Tyler Patriots to open the three-game series.
Game 1: UT Tyler 6, St. Edward's 4
ELLA HUTZLER gave St. Edward's an early lead with a two-run home run to left-center, but UT Tyler responded with six runs in the second innings, and the Hilltoppers' rally in the sixth fell short in a 6-4 loss.
KATIE DILLON opened the game with a leadoff walk, and Hutzler drove her in with her third home run of the season.
Garcia and Schott tied the game with back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the second inning. An error scored another run and extended the inning. Plocheck followed with an RBI single, and Escamilla had an RBI single in her second at-bat of the inning, giving the Patriots a 6-2 lead.
Dillon,
ARIANNA VIDALES, and Hutzler opened the sixth with three consecutive singles, scoring Dillong on Hutzler's RBIsingle to left-center.
SLOANE HILL followed with an RBI double to right-center to bring St. Edward's within two.
The Patriots turned to their bullpen, replacing Haygood with Armendariz. Armendariz struck out three of the following four hitters to end the inning.
Game 2: UT Tyler 13, St. Edward's 0
UT Tyler generated only seven hits but turned them into 13 runs, taking advantage of four walks, two hit-by-pitches, and two errors to defeat St. Edward's 13-0.
Schott drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a sac bunt, then third on a Plocheck single. Escamilla drove in Schott with a sacrifice bunt that resulted in no outs on the fielder's choice. Padgett his Aria to load the bases, and Smith drove two in with a double to right center.
Garcia followed with a sac fly, and Smith scored on a wild pitch for the 5-0 lead. In the second inning, St. Edward's loaded the bases with one out on three singles but grounded into a double play to end the inning and remain scoreless.
UT Tyler added two more runs in the second. Schott singled to center, the Price single to third, and advanced on a throwing error, scoring Schott.
After St. Edward's left two stranded in the third, UT Tyler scored six runs on three hits with an error in the bottom of the inning. Barney had an RBI double to left-center, Schott hit an RBI single through the left side, Plocheck drew a walk with bases loaded, and Escamilla hit a two-RBI single up the middle.
St. Edward's drops to 11-28 with a 9-20 conference record. The two teams will finish the series tomorrow with a single game at 1:00 p.m.
