BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor softball team dropped a pair of games to No. 8 East Texas Baptist University Saturday in Belton. The losses dropped the Cru to 11-13 on the season and opened them at 0-2 in American Southwest Conference action while the Tigers moved to 21-3 overall and 2-0 in league play.
 
East Texas Baptist put a pair of runners on in the second inning of game one but Johnston pitched out of the jam, keeping the contest scoreless. Johnston threw perfect frames in the third and fourth innings before the Tigers got on the board in the fifth with an RBI single.
 
The Tigers added two more runs in the third off a home run to right field before Ryleigh Mills scored Shorey Nguyen with an RBI single in the bottom of that inning. ETBU got that run back in the seventh and held on for the 4-1 win.
 
Ava Jolley went three-for-three while Ryleigh Mills and Shorey Nguyen both added one hit. Beth Ann Johnston threw 4.2 innings, giving up six hits and three runs while Chloe Booth threw 1.1 innings in relief. UMHB totaled one run on five hits with one error while the Tigers tallied four runs on eight hits.
 
East Texas Baptist's offense exploded in the first inning of game two, scoring seven runs off five hits. The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the second for a 9-0 lead, adding one run in the third and two in the fourth for the 12-0 win. Ryleigh Mills and Jordan Iverson each recorded a hit in the contest.
 
UMHB returns to action on Tuesday, March 24^th in a 3 p.m. doubleheader at LeTourneau University in Longview.