CLEVELAND, Miss. - The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team fought back hard but fell just short to Hardin-Simmons University in a Saturday elimination match at the 2022 American Southwest Conference Softball Championship Tournament.
 
Izzy Gutierrez put the Cru on the board in the third inning with an RBI double that scored Lexi Harris. Hardin-Simmons scored the equalizer in the top of the fifth and tacked on the go-ahead run in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. The Cowgirls added two more runs in the seventh to take a 4-1 lead with three outs left to play.
 
UMHB earned back-to-back walks in the bottom of the seventh, putting two runners on. A fielder's choice two batters later had runners on the corners for Izzy Gutierrez, who slammed an RBI single to score Tyeann Johnson to cut the lead. UMHB had potential to even the contest with a pair of runners in scoring position but the game ended in a 4-2 loss to the Cowgirls.
 
Gutierrez recorded all three of UMHB's hits, adding two RBI while Johnson and Harris scored runs. Bayleigh Grogan threw 6.2 innings in the circle with two earned runs allowed while Grason Long struck out her only batter faced.
 
UMHB has earned 32 wins this second, the second highest win-total in the Division III era. The Cru will wait for the NCAA Division III Softball Championship Selection Show to see if the team has earned an at-large bid to the national tournament. The Cru is ranked fifth in Region X by the NCAA and ninth in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 Poll.