The first career home runs for junior newcomers Rachel Gauspohl (game 1) and Brianna Williams (game 2) sparked the LeTourneau University softball team to a 5-4 (9 innings; game 1) and 6-2 (game 2) doubleheader sweep of Lyon College to begin the 2015 season on Friday night in Longview. It was an all-around team contribution to the doubleheader sweep that included strong plays on the defensive side of the field as well as timely hitting and pitching.

Game 1
LeTourneau (2-0) picked up the game one victory when Gauspohl ended an 0-for-4 slump with a walk-off homerun over the new left-field fence at the LETU softball complex for the 5-4 victory. To get to that stage, the YellowJackets withstood a three-run fifth inning by the Scots that tied the game at 4. The YellowJackets were limited to just five hits in the win. In relief of starter Courtney Matulis, Kaylee Pritchett – who missed most of the 2014 season due to injury - came off the bench to baffle the Scots batters. Pritchett went the final 4.1 innings, scattering four hits and not allowing a run to the 22 batters she faced for the win. Junior Megan Hill and freshman Nikole Williams each had two RBI for the LETU offense.
 
Lyon – which is located in Batesville, Arkansas - got on the board in the first before LeTourneau rallied to tie the game in the second at 1. In the inning, a one-out single by Brittany Avila was the first hit of the season for the YellowJackets. She moved to second on a ground out and came around to score when Hill tripled down the left-field line to tie the contest. With the game tied at 1 and the bases loaded, Williams picked up the first two RBI of her career, scoring Brianna Williams and Taylor Kaderli, who had reached base earlier in the inning. Then, with the bases loaded, Hill was hit by a pitch to plate the third run of the inning and to extend the lead to 4-1.
 
The Scots rallied in the fifth to tie the game at 4, two of which came in on a two-run home run by Tess Hurley-Brown and the tying run came in on a sacrifice fly by Stephanie Haft. With the game tied, LETU went to Pritchett, who kept LC off the scoreboard for the rest of the contest. Neither team would pick up the game-winning run until the walk-off solo home run by Gauspohl in the ninth.
 
Game 2
In game two, each team had seven hits, but it was timely hitting that proved to be a factor. Lyon stranded 15 runners on base compared to just three for LeTourneau. LETU sophomore Courtney Matulis and senior Kaylee Pritchett each had two hits in the seven-hit attack for the YellowJackets. After stifling the Scots in relief in game one, the YellowJackets called on Pritchett again in the nightcap. Pritchett faced 18 batters, surrendering an unearned run and allowing three hits to pick up her second-straight win to improve to 2-0.
 
After Lyon took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, the LETU offense broke loose for seven hits including two by Matulis. One of the seven hits was a two-run home run by Brianna Williams, scoring Gauspohl to give LeTourneau a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.

The Scots rallied to tie it in the top of the fifth and in the bottom of the fifth, LeTourneau regained the lead for the rest of the contest with three runs on two hits. The first run came around to score on a successful suicide squeeze bunt by Matulis, scoring Whitney Judd, who started the inning with a double down the left-field line. The speedy Judd moved to third on a well placed sacrifice bunt by Megan Hill. LETU added to their lead when they capitalized on a pair of errors by the Scots and a RBI ground out by Williams for 5-2 lead.
 
LeTourneau added an insurance run in the sixth when with one out, Pritchett tripled to the gap in right-center field. Then, freshman Haley Rhine picked up her first collegiate RBI on a sacrifice fly, scoring Pritchett from third.
 
The YellowJackets will wrap up the opening weekend of action on Saturday with a noon doubleheader against the University of Dallas at the LETU Softball Complex.