BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team opened American Southwest Conference play with a two-game sweep of Louisiana College Friday afternoon in Belton. UMHB went 7-2 and 5-1 against the Wildcats, opening ASC action with a 2-0 record and improving to 4-0 on the season.
Allie Dalle put UMHB on the board in the bottom of the first inning, scoring on an RBI single from
Avery Kelly for a 1-0 UMHB lead. Louisiana College evened the contest in the top of the third inning, before Kelly slammed a two-RBI home run in the bottom of the third to put the Cru up by two.
Izzy Gutierrez extended that lead later in the inning, slamming a two-RBI single for a 5-1 Cru advantage. UMHB put up single-run innings in the fifth and sixth innings with RBI singles from
Allie Dalle and
Milly Cesare. UMHB allowed the Wildcats just one more run in the contest, sealing the 7-2 victory.
Avery Kelly led the Cru with two runs and three RBI while Cesare led with three hits. Kat Reed earned the win in the circle for UMHB, pitching a complete game with four hits and one earned run allowed. Reed struck out seven batters in the contest. Cameron Crochet took the loss for the Wildcats. Crochet pitched 2.1 innings with six hits and four runs allowed.
The second game played scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when
Hannah Wolfe hit in
Allie Dalle with a sacrifice fly. UMHB added one more run in the bottom of that inning with a bases-loaded walk before giving up a solo home run in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to one run.
Lexi Harris added a run for the Cru in the bottom of the fourth inning off an RBI single from
Elissa Elliott. Louisiana College put up a single-run frame in the top of the fourth with a solo home run from Kayla Dauthier. UMHB added two more runs in the sixth with back-to-back RBI singles from
Whitney Flournoy and
Milly Cesare to take the 5-1 win. Five Crusaders combined for hits in the contest with Kelly scoring a team-high two runs and Cesare batting in a team-high two RBI.
Bayleigh Grogan earned the win in the circle for the Cru, pitching four innings with four hits and one run allowed.
Camryn Rucker threw three innings in the circle for UMHB, allowing just two hits. Bailey McMillian took the loss for the Wildcats, pitching a complete game with nine hits and five runs allowed.
UMHB closes out the series tomorrow in a 12 p.m. contest against the Wildcats at Dee Dillon Field in Belton.
