BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team swept a doubleheader over No. 7 East Texas Baptist University Friday night in Belton. The wins improved the Cru to 13-8 while the Tigers fell to 16-3.
 
Grason Long opened the first game with a trio of shutout innings, allowing just one base runner off an interference call. Bryton Wright gave UMHB a lead in the bottom of the third inning, slamming an RBI double to score Taylor Holman. The Tigers responded in the next frame, scoring the equalizer on an RBI double from Delanie Loya. The tie held until the bottom of the fifth inning when Holman doubled to score Lexi Harris and put the Cru back on top. UMHB held the Tigers to just one more hit in the contest to claim the 2-1 victory. 
 
Long pitched all seven innings for the Cru, earning the win while only allowing one run on two hits. Hannah Kelley took the loss for the Tigers allowing two runs on seven hits. UMHB totaled eight hits, led by Blakely Niles and Holman with two each. 
 
UMHB jumped to an early lead in game two when a triple from Elissa Elliott scored Lexi Harris followed by a sacrifice fly from Izzy Gutierrez to bring Elliott home. The Cru brought their lead to 3-0 in the next frame with a run from Kaitlin Powers on a second Gutierrez sacrifice fly to center field. UMHB tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI from Taylor Holman, scoring Elliott and Harris for a 5-0 margin. 
 
Kami Flores pitched four perfect innings before allowing an ETBU hit in the fifth inning. Flores gave up a solo home run from Loya but threw a strikeout with runners in scoring position to limit the damage. ETBU had runners on second and third in the top of the sixth inning but Flores pitched another strikeout to get out of the inning unscathed. UMHB's offense added some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, scoring off a bases-loaded walk before Blakely Niles hit in two runs with an RBI single to right field. The Tigers added one more run in the seventh but UMHB prevailed for the 8-2 victory. 
 
Harris and Elliott led the Cru with three hits each while Elliott scored a team-high three runs and three different Crusader each added two RBI. Kami Flores earned the complete-game win in the circle, throwing seven innings with four hits and two runs allowed. Flores struck out six batters in the contest. UMHB totaled eight runs on 14 hits while the Tigers had two runs on four hits with one error. 
 
UMHB closes the series on Saturday, March 25th in a noon single game at Dee Dillon Field in Belton.