BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team dropped a pair of games to No. 3 East Texas Baptist University Friday evening in Belton. The Tigers grabbed a 7-1 win and 5-3 win over the Cru, advancing to 5-0 on the season and 5-0 in American Southwest Conference action. The Cru fell to 6-6 on the season and 5-3 in conference play with the losses.

East Texas Baptist used a pair of homeruns to take control of the first game. Sara Clements homered in the top of the third, scoring Kayla Garcia to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Kaitlyn Hollingshead was next, hitting a home run in the top of the fourth, scoring Katy Hill and Clements for a 5-0 lead. Mallory Westbrook followed that with an RBI single, scoring Lacey Lindsey for a 6-0 win after four innings. ETBU added another run in the top of the fifth off a sacrifice fly from Jayme Perez, scoring Maranda Westbrook for a 7-0 lead. UMHB added one run in the bottom of the sixth when Karley Free hit an RBI single, scoring Christy Garrett from second, cutting the Tigers' lead to 7-1. UMHB was not able to respond in the seventh, giving ETBU the 7-1 win. Karley Free led the Cru with two hits while Janie Neyland and Myranda Hinojosa each added one. Haley Parker took the loss in the circle for the Cru, pitching 3.1 innings with six runs on eight hits. Oliva Curtis came in the final 3.2 innings for UMHB, allowing one run on two hits. UMHB combined for two strikeouts in the contest and walked just three batters. Shelby Parker earned the win for the Tigers, pitching a complete seven innings with one run, four hits and eight strikeouts. UMHB totaled one run on four this with two errors while the Tigers had seven runs on 10 hits with one error.

The Tigers took an early lead in the second contest when Garcia scored off an error on the Cru. ETBU extended that lead to three when Perez hit a two-RBI single to score Alexis Padilla and Mallory Westbrook. Leah Brown evened the score for the Cru in the bottom of the third inning, hitting a home run over the left field wall to score Kelsey Vann and Christy Garrett for a 3-3 tie. Mallory Westbrook scored of another Crusader error in the top of the fourth, followed by an RBI single from Garcia to give the Tigers a 5-3 lead. UMHB was not able to generate another scoring offense, falling 5-3 to the Tigers. Emily Marrs led the Cru with three hits while Brown and Free each added one. Tiffany Birdwell took the loss for the Cru, giving up five runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Kelly Jo McLendon earned the win for ETBU, allowing three runs on six hits with one strikeout. UMHB totaled three runs on six hits with three errors while the Tigers had five runs on six hits with one error.