Box Score Photo GalleryTYLER, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball won its opening game of the 2014 American Southwest Conference Tournament 11-2 over No. 6 seed University of Texas at Dallas. The win improves the Cru to 29-12 on the season and advances them to the winner's bracket of the tournament. U.T.-Dallas moves to 23-18 and will continue play in the loser's bracket.
Kourtney Bevers got the Cru on the board first with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the second, scoring
Victoria Gomez from second and
Kelsey Vann from first. UMHB held the 2-0 advantage until the bottom of the third, when the Cru put up seven runs for a 9-0 lead.
Leah Brown was the first to strike with a two-RBI double, allowing
Myranda Hinojosa and
Janie Neyland to reach home.
Kelsey Vann followed that with an RBI single scoring Brown before Bevers drove in four runs with a grand slam to centerfield, scoring Vann,
Dayton Kunz and
Amelia Cluke. The Comets added two more runs in the top of the fifth before Hinojosa hit a two-run homer to secure UMHB's 11-2 victory.
Rebekah Ragsdale earned the win in the circle for the Cru, allowing nine hits and two runs. She struck out two batters and walked two more. Four Crusaders recorded multiple-hits for a team-total of 11. Hinojosa and Vann led UMHB with two runs each while Bevers had a game-high six RBI. The Cru totaled 11 runs on 11 hits with no errors while the Comets had two runs on nine hits with no errors.
UMHB will advance to face the winner of No. 2 seed East Texas Baptist University and No. 7 seed Concordia Texas on Friday, May 2
nd at 1 p.m. U.T.-Dallas will move on to face No. 5 seed Hardin-Simmons in an elimination game on Thursday, May 1
st at 4 p.m.
