LONGVIEW, Texas – Making the most of three Belhaven errors to score five of their nine runs, the LeTourneau University softball team would grab a 9-1, six-inning victory to open a three-game series at the LETU Softball Field on Friday, March 15th.
LeTourneau improved to 12-7 overall and 9-4 in the American Southwest Conference while the Blazers fell to 6-11 overall and 3-9 in ASC play.
"The energy in the dugout from everybody was really good and our team feeds off of that so that helped make the difference tonight" Said head coach
Stan Wells in a post-game interview. "
Taylor Nichols is really starting to come into her own and these kids have been having a lot of fun which is what life is all about." "The hope is that we can get a similar performance tomorrow afternoon and feed off the dugout energy with two games still to play."
The YellowJackets would never trail in the contest, working around a one-out walk in the top of the first before using a two-out throwing error to score a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to go up 2-0. LeTourneau would threaten to add more to their first-inning scoring but would end up leaving the bases loaded after sending eight batters to the plate.
All three outs in the top of the second would come via strikeout for freshman
Bailey Richey, but LETU would also come up empty in the bottom of the inning before seeing the Blazers use three hits in the third to score one run and cut the lead to 2-1.
LeTourneau quickly added to their lead as
Ethel Warren would lead off the bottom of the third with a single before a
Katelyn Trombley triple would make the score 3-1. Freshman
Taylor Nichols would then clear the bases with a two-run homer to left center field to put the YellowJackets up 5-1 as Kennedy Dillow would cap off a five-hit, four-run inning with an RBI triple to make things 6-1 in favor of LeTourneau.
The score would remain a five-run advantage for the YellowJackets until the bottom of the sixth when LETU would once again take advantage of a Belhaven error as a leadoff single would be moved to third following a groundout and fielding error to put runners on the corners with one out. Following a pitching change by the Blazers, LETU would see two of the next three batters get hit-by-pitch and would be followed by a walk to drive in a run. The game would end on the next pitch when a wild pitch allowed Nichols to score for the second time in the game and put LeTourneau up 9-1 to end things due to the eight-run mercy rule.
Tossing a complete game, Richey picked up her fourth win of the season after allowing just one run on six hits and fanning nine of the 26 batters she faced. Only one inning would feature more than one hit for Belhaven, with the YellowJackets outhitting the Blazers 13-6 and sending 11 more batters to the plate in the contest.
Nichols finished her day a perfect three-for-three with a team-high two RBI and two runs scored as five different LeTourneau players collected two or more hits. LETU would also limit their strikeouts to just five in the game while drawing three walks.
What's Next?
Both the YellowJackets and Blazers will be back in action for an ASC doubleheader tomorrow afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. at the LETU Softball Field. LeTourneau will look to maintain a perfect 6-0 mark at home this season, and will be going for their third ASC series sweep of the year.
