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Caitlin Bollier
Farmers Branch, Texas –
Caitlin Bollier provided all of the offense the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team would need as the Cru topped Louisiana College 4-2 in an American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament First Round Game. UMHB improves to 27-14 on the year with the victory and the Cru has now won 13 straight games. The Wildcats fall to 24-14 on the year with the loss.
The Wildcats grabbed a 1-0 lead on Courtney Ivey's RBI single in the top of the first inning and had runners at second and third before UMHB's
Rebekah Ragsdale worked her way out of the jam. The Cru battled back to tie it in the bottom of the fourth when Tori Gomez led off with a double. A sacrifice bunt moved pinch-runner
Brittany Moreno to third and she scored on
Caitlin Bollier's single to even the game at one. LC put runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings, but could not push across the go-ahead run in either frame.
Leanne Hinojosa reached on an error to open the bottom of the sixth and moved to third on Gomez's double. Bollier followed with a one-out, three-run home run to give UMHB a 4-1 lead. An error, walk and wild pitch put runners on first and third with no outs in the top of the seventh inning, and an RBI fielder's choice cut the lead to 4-2.
Halle Sabo retired the next two hitters to nail down the victory for the Cru to move to 6-6 on the season. Sabo did not allow a hit or earned run in one and two-thirds innings of relief work. Ragsdale scattered six hits and struck out four in her five and a third innings of work. Bollier and Gomez each had two hits for UMHB as the rest of the line-up combined for just one. Bollier also drove in four runs for the Cru. Leslie Eastham took the loss for the Wildcats to drop to 9-6 on the year. Sandra Ouchley had three of LC's six hits in the game.
The Cru will now face U.T.-Tyler in a winner's bracket game tonight at 7:00 PM and UMHB is guaranteed to play on Friday in the double-elimination tournament. U.T.-Tyler advanced with a 6-0 win over Concordia Texas and the Patriots (39-2) are ranked #1 in the country by the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association. Louisiana College will face Concordia Texas in an elimination game at 4:00 PM on Thursday.
