BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team took a pair of wins from University of the Ozarks Friday evening in Belton. The wins improved the Cru to 11-3 on the season and 6-2 in American Southwest Conference action while the Eagles fell to 1-8 overall and 0-7 in league play.
 
Kendall Tramel scored the game-winning run in the first contest, giving UMHB a 1-0 run in the bottom of the seventh off a sacrifice fly from Bailey Wagner. Trammel led the Cru with two hits while five other Crusaders added one each. UMHB totaled one run on seven hits while the Eagles had four hits with two errors. Bayleigh Grogan earned the win in the circle for UMHB, throwing seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts. McKenzie Lucio took the loss for Ozarks, throwing 6.1 innings with seven hits and one run allowed.  

Ozarks took an early lead in the second contest when Rayli Ruby scored on an error. UMHB responded with three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead. Rylee Anderson hit in Kendall Tramel with a single down the right field line before Elissa Elliott slammed a two-RBI double, scoring Anderson and Bailey Wagner. The Cru added another run in the bottom of the next frame off a sacrifice fly from Wagner to take a 4-1 lead after three innings. Ozarks added one more run in the top of the sixth but UMHB equaled that in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Blakely Niles. UMHB got three consecutive outs in the top of the seventh to keep the 5-2 victory.  Lexi Harris and Elliott led the Cru with three hits each while Elliott had a team-high two RBI. Rachel Williams earned the win in the circle for the Cru, throwing seven innings with four hits and two runs allowed. Williams added seven strikeouts in the win. UMHB totaled five runs on 13 hits with two errors while the Eagles had two runs on four hits. UMHB closes out the series in a 12 p.m. contest on Saturday, March 5^th.