The LeTourneau University softball team nearly upset #3 East Texas Baptist in a doubleheader on Tuesday at the LETU Softball Field. The Tigers and the YellowJackets went into extra innings to settle game one as ETBU came away with an 11-3 win and in the nightcap, ETBU outlasted LETU, 5-3.
Game 1LeTourneau (9-8, 4-7 ASC) rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the sixth inning to take a 2-1 lead when freshman
Madison Gray hit her second home run of the season off ETBU starter Shelby Parker. The Tigers rallied to tie it at 2 in the top of the seventh when a one-out double by Katy Hill ricocheted off the base at third brought in the tying run. Then, a nine-run effort on seven hits by the Tigers put the visitors ahead 11-2. The YellowJackets plated a run in its half but it was not enough in the loss.
Parker for the Tigers went the distance, scattering six hits and striking out 19 in the process for the win to improve to 4-0. LETU starter
Courtney Matulis, also went the distance in the loss to fall to 2-4. Offensively for LETU,
Madison Gray (pictured) had two of the six hits for the YellowJackets. The Tigers had 12 hits including three each from Kaitlyn Hollingshead and Lacey Lindsey in the win.
Game 2A two-run seventh inning was just enough to led East Texas Baptist to a 5-3 win in the nightcap. A RBI single by Lindsey and a RBI double by Sara Clements proved to be the difference. ETBU starting pitcher Kelly Jo McLendon pitched 6.1 innings, allowing five hits and striking out four in the win to improve to 4-0. Parker came out of the bullpen for the final two outs for the save.
LeTourneau reliever
Kaylee Pritchett pitched the final two innings, allowing four hits and striking out two in the loss to fall to 2-3. Offensively for LETU,
Courtney Matulis and
Whitney Judd each had two hits to lead a five hit effort. ETBU had eight hits including a pair from Jayme Perez, Sara Clements and Jessica Bowden in the win.
A solo home run by Bowden in the 2
nd put the visitors ahead 1-0 until LETU came back to tie it on a RBI bunt single by Judd in its half of the inning. Another solo home run put the Tigers back in front, this time off the bat of Perez in the third inning. ETBU extended its lead with another run in the fifth for a 3-1 advantage.
Then, the YellowJackets mounted a comeback in its half of the fifth. With two out, Matulis reached on an infield single; then,
Megan Hill hit a home run over the left-field wall to tie the game at 3. The Tigers regained the lead in the seventh with two runs on three hits to come away with the win.
The two coaches have set 5 p.m. as the time for the series finale on Wednesday at the LETU Softball Complex.
