Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Brownwood, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team had the bats come to life in the later innings of both games and the Cru rolled to a doubleheader sweep of Howard Payne University Friday afternoon in Brownwood. UMHB took game one 13-8 and then posted an 11-3 victory in game two. The Cru improves to 5-5 on the season and 2-0 in American Southwest Conference West Division play with the sweep. Howard Payne falls to 3-8 overall and 0-2 in the ASC West with the two losses.
The Cru broke open a close game with a pair of home runs and a four-run seventh inning in the 13-8 game one victory. UMHB opened up a 4-0 lead in the top of the first on
Caitlin Bollier's RBI single, a two-run single from
Erica Salazar and a run-scoring error. Another run-scoring error made it 5-0 Cru in the top of the second and
Sara Roman's RBI single gave UMHB a 6-0 lead in the top of the third. HPU scored five in the bottom of the third on three hits, three walks and a hit batter. UMHB made it 7-5 in the top of the fourth on
Megan Bohne's RBI single, but HPU took an 8-7 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Jessica Oliver singled home a run and another run scored on an error as the Cru took a 9-8 lead in the top of the fifth and the Cru put it out of reach with four runs in the top of the seventh. Oliver's three-run homer started the scoring and Bohne added a solo shot.
Erica White then set the Yellow Jackets down in order in the bottom of the seventh. White earned the win to move to 3-1 on the year with five innings of four-hit relief pitching. Oliver and Bohne had three hits apiece for UMHB and Bollier,
Jordan Schrutka and
Kelsey Greeson added two hits each for the Cru.
UMHB erupted in the middle innings to snap a 2-2 tie on the way to an 11-3 win in game two. The Cru took a 1-0 lead on
Brittany Moreno's RBI fielder's choice in the top of the first. HPU tied it in the bottom of that frame before Oliver's RBI single made it 2-1 UMHB in the top of the second. HPU tied the game again in the bottom of the third, but UMHB put the game away with a six-run fourth inning.
Courtney Johnston started the scoring with a solo homer, the next run scored on a wild pitch and Moreno and Schrutka added two-run hits to make it 8-2 UMHB. The Cru stretched the lead to 11-2 in the top of the sixth on Schrutka's two-run double and Roman's RBI single. The Yellow Jackets added a run in the bottom of the sixth, but that would be as close as it would get. Greeson scattered five hits and allowed just one earned run to improve to 2-2 on the year. Moreno and Schrutka led the UMHB offense with two hits apiece and the pair combined for seven RBI in the victory.
The two teams will close out the series with a noon doubleheader tomorrow in Brownwood. The Cru will then hit the road next week to play eight games in four days against California teams beginning with a doubleheader at California Lutheran next Monday.
