The LeTourneau University softball team reached new heights, withstanding a pair of elimination games on Friday at the 2015 American Southwest Conference Softball Championship Tournament in Tyler. The YellowJackets won an ASC record 17-inning game, 9-7 over Mary Hardin-Baylor to begin the day; then, they followed that up with an 8-5 win over Louisiana College to conclude the day. With the two wins, LeTourneau raises its record to the .500 mark at 20-20.
 
In the first game of the day, it was a 4 hour, 57-minute contest that saw LeTourneau score four times in the sixth to force extra innings. Once the game reached extra innings, the two teams played 10 more innings and it was not decided until a walk-off, two-run home run by LETU junior Megan Hill (pictured above).
 
The YellowJackets found themselves behind 7-6 in the bottom of the 17^th. Freshman Kelsi Coleman started the bottom half of the inning, reaching on a catcher's interference. Then, she moved to second on a ground out by Kaylee Pritchett. LETU head coach Kate Bell-Keierleber went to the bench and called on freshman Haley Rhine, who rose to the challenge on a 1-2 count with a single down the left-field line to score a hustling Coleman from second to tie the game at 7. After a strikeout, it set the stage for the heroics by Hill, who drilled the first pitch of the at bat over the fence and send the YellowJackets into another elimination contest.
 
In the win, LeTourneau had 24 hits compared to 15 for Mary Hardin-Baylor. Hill and freshman Kelsie Benson each had four hits, Coleman and Rachel Gauspohl added three to the cause. Pritchett (pictured below) started the game and returned to the contest in the eighth for the YellowJackets. Between appearances, freshman Ashley Burdine pitched 5.1 innings of four-hit scoreless relief. Pritchett finished the contest with 11.2 innings pitched, allowing seven runs (one earned) and striking out three in a 169-pitch appearance to improve to 6-10.
 

 
In its second game of the day, the LETU offense remained hot en route to an 8-5 win over Louisiana College. The YellowJacket offense had eight hits in the win and Pritchett held the Wildcats in check. The senior from Tucson, Arizona allowed eight hits, four runs (four earned) and struck out three for his second win of the day and to improve to 7-10 overall. The LETU offense was led by Hill and Benson, who each had two hits in the win. Hill added three more RBI and Benson tallied two more for the victorious YellowJackets.
 
LETU plated three in the first inning, two of which came in on the two-run home run by Benson. Then, they picked up another run on a RBI triple by Coleman for the early 3-0 lead. The YellowJackets added to their lead in the second inning on a two-run home run by Hill – her second, two-run home run of the day.
 
Facing a 5-0 deficit, Louisiana College trimmed the deficit to 5-1 on a RBI double by Laura Gulotta-Parrish in the third inning. The YellowJackets responded with a three-run sixth inning on RBI singles by Nikole Williams and Coleman as well as a bases loaded walk to Hill to stretch the lead to 8-1. The Wildcats mounted a threat with a four-run seventh inning until Burdine, who entered in relief of Pritchett, got back-to-back ground outs to end the game.
 
LeTourneau will next have its third elimination game in two days when they take on host UT Tyler on Saturday at 2 p.m. at SuddenLink Field.