LeTourneau scored twice in the fourth and fifth and plated another in the first en route to a 5-0 shutout win over Howard Payne to wrap up the opening weekend series in American Southwest Conference play on Saturday in Longview.

LETU (5-2, 2-1 ASC) spread six hits among five players, including a two-hit game from junior Rachel Gauspohl in the win. Sophomore starting pitcher Courtney Matulis was dominant in the circle, giving up just four hits and striking out five to improve to 2-1. She preserved her shutout as HPU stranded the bases loaded in the sixth and two more runners in the seventh for the win.
 
Howard Payne (3-4, 1-2 ASC) was limited to four hits and Celese Tirres went the distance, scattering six hits and striking out three in the loss.
 
After doing a bulk of its damage with two outs in Friday's series opening doubleheader, LETU got on the board in the first on a RBI single by freshman Madison Gray. To set the stage, Matulis reached on an error to start the game. Next, a sacrifice bunt by senior Megan Hill moved Matulis to second; then, the hit by Gray gave LETU an early 1-0 lead.
 
The next four runs came with two outs for LeTourneau. LETU plated two runs on two hits, taking advantage of a pair of errors by the visitors in the fourth inning to put LETU ahead 4-0. In the fifth, a pair of RBI singles by freshman Kelsi Benson and senior Kaylee Pritchett pushed across two more runs for the home team and the final margin.
 
Next up for LeTourneau is a twinbill on Tuesday (Feb. 17) at the LETU Softball Complex against the College of St. Joseph at 4 p.m.

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